It's just the sound of my music
by II Renegade II
Summary: She never liked secrets, thus she is very curious.Is it a bad thing? Well, it is when you are an orphan and your 'tutor' sends you to an orphanage in London. An orphanage where the chevalier and his queen are hiding. Possible HagixOc. Full summary inside.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Well, hello! This is my very first story so please if you would like to review it would be awesome! If this sucks, tell me, ok? Because i want to make this story really long! I have so many ideas...i think i will need another life to finsih it :P naaah just joking ^^

Anyways, this is a possible HagixOc. Nicole is my oc, ok? Just to make it clear. Also, there might be a slight KaixOc as well. Ok, on with the summary.

Nicole/Nicky, once a member of The Street's Maniacs Crew, also known as SMC, is kicked out of her crew because of her lack on cencentration. All this stress comes from a fight with her father, who is now sending her to an orphanage in London, under a fake ID. Once arrived there, she will meet several people such as the owner, Gray, Javier, Monique, Kai, and also the two enigmas, Hagi and Saya. Because of her past as a pro break dance and a few skills with the guitar, Nciole will try to find out what they all are hiding.

Also, this takes place around episode...33 i think, when Saya and Hagi reappear after missing a year. Also, the orphanage is Gray's house min London.

That is it^^ On with the story!

CHAPTER I - The past is dead and gone

Ok, this was already too much even a person like her own could bear after all. After she just missed that dammed last jump, she did not land on her feet, but on her head. Cursing as she felt the pain piercing right through her skull, Nicky got up, quite hard that is, and rubbed the injured part of her body. "Nicky!" Anna yelled as she ran towards her crew partner. The brown haired victim turned her head towards her and sighed. She knew this was good, but yet again, Anna was the leader. She couldn't say a shit in front of her. And that little yell of hers surely wasn't because she was worried for her…

"That is the fourth fucking time you miss the landing!" she yelled as she got two feet away from Nicky. Grunting, the girl turned around and gave Anna a 'yeah? I really didn't knew that…' sarcastic look before sighing deeply. "You have not been practicing, right?" the all might boss spoke… Nicky lowered her head a little ashamed of herself. "Nah..not really" she spoke several seconds later. "You know I've been in deep shit, An. Please don't sue me again…" Anna's right brow rose in confusing before she, herself let out a sigh. Yeah, she was in deep shit, and Anna knew pretty wellwhat was it all about.

"Nick, I cant afford to have you messing up like this…everything!" she almost yelled as she threw her hands into the air. "I know the thing with your old man, but..that is one thing. You must concentrate with the crew."

"But I cant!" Nicky said as she let her head fall backwards in exasperation.

"You forgot out motto?"

Anna's words pierced her head a lot tougher then the fall did. Gulping dry, Nicky lowered her head once more. "'Either dance or die…'" she said in a low voice. Anna shot her a disappointed look and nodded her head slowly a couple of time. Reaching her right shoulder with her arm, the leader called her name once more. And the girl did just the thing. She rose her head and stared at Anna. Nicky opened her mouth, to speak but nothing came out. Anna looked down.

"Ankh…Don't do this to me…" she pleaded as she called her leader by her original nickname, the one she found for herself almost 5 years ago. But it didn't seem to take any effect on her. The sharp look in her eyes did not change.

"Im really sorry for this Nicole…but you are out of the crew."

* * *

In her room, Nicole was packing her stuff away, ritual which lasted for almost 2 full hours. It would have lasted longer if the teenager would really care to pack the clothes the way they should be packed, not thrown and left at hells mercy. But it didn't really seem to bother her. It was already 6 p.m. and Nicky was struggling to close a suitcase with her own butt. Unfortunatly, she sank into the great sea of thoughts, and left her body in a static position, resting her chin in the palms of her hands and staring out the window with blank eyes. Real life did not matter in those moments, but what happened deep in her mind did. She was meditating on what just happened earlier that day.

She was _out._

The simple thought brought tears in her eyes, but she kept them from falling. Who ever knew that the simple and most idiotic thought of being out of the _dance crew_ she had been in for half of her life would matter that much? Well, the sad truth was that for her it really mattered.

But for Nicky it wasn't only a dance crew, it was her identity, her life style, and most of all, it was her family. All of them. Ankh, Maria, Toad, Bug, SR, Alex, Kid… She had so many dear memories about that crew, such as, the very first board they danced on, the first graffiti they made(it said "Please, don't kill the flys!"), but most of all, the day when they first met and choose their name and names. Ankh first made them all come at her place right after she lost her little hamster, Brutus(don't tell that is a stupid name or you shall die…). It wasn't the fact that he died, she just lost the little rodent in the street and gathered all them to go and search for him. Even if they all knew it was a fight they already lost, they searched him for almost half on day. At sunset, Ankh started to cry. It was the first time she cried, or she was seen crying. Nicky tried to confort her, but it was of no use. The hamster was gone and it was nothing none of them could ever do to change that.

But them Toad had an idea. Because he was the self proclaimed "artist of the ear" it was natural for him to joke with Ankh and tell if if she will not stop crying he would spray her face with paint. Even if the effect wasn't the one he expected(a punch in the gut, that is), the crying girl rose to her feet and grabbed that can of spray from her friend. Nicky and the others watched her as she wrote on a near by wall a little message. It said "In the loving memory of my street maniac, Brutus oxox". Nicky walked over to her and hugged her friend right before she would let her tears fall again. The can fell from her hands and hit the concrete with a metallic sound. Maria joined the hug as well. So did alex, the Bug and the others, creating the greatest group hug all of them had seen until them. Nicky could barely surpress her tears as well.

She was only 11 years old back then, so she said the only thing she found reasonable to say. "Its ok Ankh, Brutus will always be with us, on the streets." "Yea!" Toad jumped himself. "I mean, this crew is full of maniacs right?" after a short glare from Maria, she always was the smart one, the boy shut his mouth, knowing it was a lot better if he would say nothing. Inwardly he had done the best thing yet. Ankh opened her eyes wide and stepped out from the suffocating hug of her friends. "Crew…" she whispered as she stared at her latest 'masterpiece'. "Maniacs…" her eyes moved to the little people behind her as a hint of hope could be seen after two full days in which her eyes did nothing but water. "Streets.." the corners of her mouth made a small curve as a small but certain smile grew larger by the second.

By this time, Maria was getting worried. "A-ankh?" she called out as the girl stepped out from the 'crowd'. "Are you ok?" she said in a low voice.

"THE STREET'S MANIACS CREW!" was the yell of the 12 year old girl who lost her hamster the day before…

Nicky allowed herself to chuckle at the memory. The truth was they were already a crew, but that day everything went official.

Her eyes closed themselves as she wanted to make everything clear again. All of them were so similar, just like brothers and sisters. Their little group had to be forever and ever together. Never apart, never alone. If so, why did they abandoned her. Anna, or better said Ankh, abandoned her just like that, because she didn't knew how to do a stupid jump in their rehearsal they wanted to perform in Rats hole at the next text message they will receave. Almost 6 years of sisterhood were forgotten in just a stupid missed jump? She could barely believe that... But it happened.

Nicky shook her head. No it was better this way. Ever since they all started to dance, nothing good came out of that. Ever since they started to dance, an year ago, Toad got beaten up until he was 90% dead, Maria already started to take drugs, not to mention Bug ran away from home. Bug, who was momma's boy! But Nicky was scared of Ankh the most. She didn't even wanted to be called that way anymore. Ankh became more vicious, a tiran and a creature with a thirst for the first place. Ever since the crew won the admiration of the underground public when they first danced, Ankh was in a desperate fight with herself to keep the title. And she even sacrificed one of her friends for that goal.

Nicky could'nt take it anymore. The rivers of tears ran down her cheeks and she continued to slap her face and make them go away. Quiting her try to close the suitcase, Nicky got up and ran to the bathroom, throwing items out of her way in the process. As she got where she wanted to be, the brown haired girl grabbed the sink and lend her whole body weight on her thin and fragile arms as she kept her head down. A single, short look in the mirror made her understand she didn't liked that she saw. Down her boney face ran thin rivers of tears which carried her mascara and black eyeliner with them in the process and making her eye bags look even more deeper.

Without hesitation, and with lots of sobs and gasps Nicole turns on the water and washes her face with both hands in an almost maniacal manor. Several red marks were left as she finished this little purification ritual. Rising her head again Nicole saw her reflexion in the mirror and gasped again at the sight. Even if this wasn't what she wanted to achive, she was happy enough to have erased that warm feeling her tears left behind them as they rolled down her cheeks and nose.

Slapping herself once more, she went out of the bathroom. The crew, her friends, everything was dead and gone now. There was no use to ran after those memories again and again.

Going back to her bedroom, the teenager just punched the suitcase close. Throwing a huge backpack on her back, grabbing the case and her ipod, Nicole exited her one two room apartment without even bothering to lock up the door. She kenw there was nothing valuable people might want to steal from that place, so why to care? Exiting her block as well, Nicole had no surprise to find a cab waiting for her. It seems her loving father took care about every single aspect that involved her leaving New York…

"Hi Cornelius…" she said monotone as she walked right into the taxi without even eyeing him for a minute. From inside she could hear her dad and the driver exchanging several whispers, but still, she didn't care. Hopefully he was going to pay for the trip, since she wasn't going to lend her own money to the guy.

Several minutes later, the driver went in the drivers seat and grunting a few words Nicky didn't bother to understand, he put the car into motion.

As they passed streets and alleys, Nicole couldn't stop the flashbacks that came to her mind as she saw those small but meaningful things that bounded her to this place. Some were better then the others but the only one who brought tears to her eyes again was Brutus's memorial. It was old and there were others which covered the writing, but she was sure it was there. "Street's Maniacs crew…" Nicky whispered softly as she blinked the tears away. This was the final. No more crying over what was already dead. Singing and pulling the hood over head head, Nicky started to concentrate on the music in her head phones. Little did she knew, as soon as she done that the taxi passed in a flash of a second her maniac friends. Ironicly, they were heading to the next underground dance revolution to keep their title up and strong. None of them turned their head an inch. Maybe they missed her, maybe they did not…

Nicole closed her eyes tightly and barely heard her own thoughts;

_Maybe London wont be that bad…I must get used with the farm thing…_

TO BE CONTINUED…


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter II – The first meeting and the first night

From now on, it was official; Nicky surely hated planes, flying and anything that made even the slightest connection between the two horrors. She could never imagine staying next to that fat lady who done nothing but eat peanuts, drink coffee and fart. And all of this for almost a day! Who ever knew the trip from New York to London was that long… Well, it was certain she knew. Hopefully, her old mad hired a driver to drop her to her orphanage too, so she didn't had to walk almost 14 km towards it.

This trip wasn't that long; in 15 minutes, Nicky was asked to get out, and not even the sight wasn't that bad. Well, the fact that she arrived at night, around 2am made it 'better' since the girl always preferred night time. But she could see it was a rather normal looking farm, with a nice yard and enough rooms for everybody. But still, it wasn't Nicky's kind of place. She always preferred the cold and hard concrete instead of fresh green grass and dirt. She sighed; it was either this place, or living with Cornelius…

Grabbing all her stuff, the teenager started to walk to what seemed to be the main entrance. Whish each step she took, her heart pumped her blood faster and faster because of the emotion. Nicky wasn't fully sure with this decision. She wondered if there was still time to turn around and run after the taxi, beg the driver to pick her up and leave her in London. After that, she could find her way around the place, and she didn't had to get into this idiotic orphanage thingy… Still, when she heard the knock she left on the door, she knew there was no turning back. 'Damn…my own body betrayed me…' she thought full of sarcasm as she waited for a response.

One minute passed. Two minutes passed. Five minutes passed. The teenager started to think no one will ever answer this dammed door. Pressing a hand on her hip and lowering her head, she was ready to knock again when the handle was pressed and someone opened the door. The only thing that made her flinch was the deep, strong and masculine voice of a person.

"Yes?"

By this time, Nicole would rise her head and stare at the stranger. And boy, it was quite an odd view. In the darkness of the night she could notice only the fact that he was rather tall, he was dressed in a pretty elegant black suit (or so it seemed) and she saw his pale, almost white skin radiating in the sea of black that surrounded both of them. Shaking her head twice, Nicky decided it was best if she would adopt the normal attitude an orphan should have; lower head, humble posture and seriousity.

"Gray's house for War Orphans…?" she asked in a low voice as she kept her gaze at her feet. After receaving the hummed response of the man she continued. "I'm Nicole Castle. My tutor, Cornelius Benton singed me up to stay here until I will be 18." Digging her hand deep into her pocket, Nicky took a piece of paper and showed it to the stranger. She dared and rose her sight, but only until her eyes met the fabric of his clothes. 'black silk…?' she mentally questioned herself as she examined it as close as she could.

After a few minutes of silence in which the girl felt like she really screwed it up, Nicole relaxed when the man spoke again.

"I am sorry, but the owner is sleeping now."

Nicky mentally slapped herself. Really? What could people do at 2 in the fucking morning? Aerobic? Maybe this wasn't a good time after all…

"But if what you say is true, I think I might allow you to spend the night in the living room. You shall discuss this properly with Mr Gray in the morning."

The girls eyes went wide. Was he serious? Wow, Cornelius had done a pretty good job after all with this place! Nodding her head only once and muttering a small 'Thanks' Nicole entered the house as soon as the man made her way to do so. Once in, the lights turned on. Turing her head around, she noticed that he was the one who done so. Even if the light was dim and her eyes were tired, she couldn't help but notice his features a lot better. It was true, his skin was pale and flawless, and his blue eyes matched it perfectly. Also, it made quite a contrast with his wavy black hair which was tied up in a ponytail, just like she used to do with her own when she danced. The 'suit' turned out to be a simple but elegant black jacket. If she would have seen him in NY, she could have swore he either was in a metal band either was a really big fan of one. His look was so different from her baggy, hip-hop and almost vulgar one. It was then when she remembered that under her half zipped hoodie she wore nothing but a sport bra. Noticing this, as well, she turned around quick and zipped it up to her neck, even if it was so damn hot outside and inside the house.

"I don't know where you room is, but you can sleep on the couch." He told he in the same monotone voice as he opened a door leading to the living room. Nicky peeked her eyes inside and saw nothing too special. Just an old fashioned couch, a couple of chairs, a coffee table and an old fashioned tv. It was still better then sleeping outside or in the taxi or hell knew where. Stepping inside, Nicole carried her backpack and suitcase as well and left them at the sides of the couch.

"This document will be the first thing Gray shall see in the morning. Good night."

With the sound of the old wooden door closing, he left Nicole alone, staring towards the way he disappeared. So... ceremonial, even if there was no need to be this way. Even if she didn't really realized that at the moment, inside her mind a little question about this man was born. All that mystery around his made Nicole flinch with both wonder and fear. A total enigma. A complete challenge. The girl would have smirked if her facial muscles weren't so tired. Dropping the idea and embracing the fact that maybe he was a simple servant in the house, Nicole didn't even bothered to change her clothes. Yes, she knew she was all smelly and so on, but she could care less about that little detail. Using her backpack as a pillow, Nicky collapsed under the weight of her own body on the hard couch. After a few minutes in which her skin got used with the rough material, the girl finally relaxed all her muscles for the first time that night. It felt so good to know she finally had some time for her own by her own, even if it was in this cottage.

Closing her eyes, Nicole finally fell asleep, sinking deeply into her own world of dreams and memories. Oh, how much she wished to simply forget everything about the limits of space and time and flow back in the body of the 11 year old girl she was 5 years ago and simply enjoy life like the child she was. But that was nothing but a memory. A simple, ghostly part of her life, long gone and untouchable. Now she lived a lie. Nicky, became Nicole, the 16 year old orphan whos parents died recently in a car accident. The only problem was, it was not true. The one she said was her tutor, was her father who sent her here, with the help of fake ID cards and money, just to get rid of her. The only truth was her mother was indeed dead, but she died when she was 6 years old, not 6 months ago, as the paper the servant took said. Nicole herself was a top high school student, not a formal street crew member and a break dancer. And this was only the start. It was the start of a beautiful and painful lie, all of it.

Still, there was no use to tire her mind once more with such details. Her mind drifted away in her dreams and nightmares soon enough. She fell asleep on the couch, crawled up in a ball right in the moment when a deep and smooth melody start playing.

'A cello…?' was the only thing that ran through her mind before slipping out of this reality.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter III – Smells like teen spirit…

The night went surprisingly smooth, calm and dreamless for the new comer who slept crawled on the old couch. Nicole haven't moved an inch from her position, fact which made it pretty clear that she was far more tired then everybody could've thought. Only her right hand hanged lazily from the edge just like it belonged to a corpse and a shiny drool rolled from the corner of her mouth. It was the typical imagine of the 16 year old who had a tiring night, maybe partying or hanging out, or in her case, traveling. But still, with all that black mascara and eyeliner smudged all around her eyes and cheek bones… It really made no difference.

The first rays of the sun ran through the windows and hit her body and face directly, making her moan and grunt because of the unwanted warmth it left. By this time, she was announcing her imminent awake; tossing and grunting, covering her face with either her arms or in her backpack. Soon enough she gave up and reached her hand to her pocket. Grabbing her cell phone, Nicole shot it a look and moaned some more. It was 8;37 in the morning.

'God-dammit!' she thought as she made a huge effort to rise and sit on her butt. 'What the hell was that? A 6 hour's sleep?' Nicole rubbed her head, making her hair even more messier then it already was, and scanned a little the room she fell asleep in. Blinking several time while doing this she remembered pretty much everything that happened last night. It seemed it wasn't a dream after all. "Welcome to the happiest place on Earth…" she muttered as she felt that she re-gained the control on her body. Yep, she came into her senses already. Unfortunately, her smelling sense was the first to 'activate' as she noticed her own odor. Nicole made a disgusted face. Well, she had all the rights to smell, right? She haven't bath or shower in like…three days. How in the world could she face the owner smelling like crap? Grunting again, she reached to her suit case and opened it, revealing a shit load of thrown t-shirts hoodies pants and lingerie. But al least they were all clean. Grabbing randomly an XXL white t-shirt that had written on it 'Fuck me! I'm famous!", she threw it besides her on the couch and unzipped her hoodie. She thought last night was a hot night, but she had woke up for 5 mins and she already felt the sweat rolling down her forehead and back. Dressing quickly with the shirt and wiping away the sweat on her forehead, Nicole dared and went out of the living room she slept in.

She was careful enough to knock before opening the door, just in case there was anyone outside. Lucky her the corridor was empty, no humans around! The girl peeked her head outside before exiting complete, closing the door smoothly behind her. There was no sight of humans, but their voices surely could've been heard. And, yet again, her nose alarmed her. Bacon. And fried eggs. The simple smell made her mouth water, so she done the only normal thing she could have done; follow the smell. While doing so, she couldn't help but ran a hand through her hair, but she made a face at the feeling of her hair flowing between her fingers. 'Greasy… God, help me!'

Before she tied her capillary accessory in a loose pony tail, she found the source of the aroma she felt earlier, but also the source of the voices she heard. Before risking and enter the room, she remained a minute and listened. Three- no four voices. One of a boy's, one belonged to an elder man, there also was a child and a girl, her age or a few years older. From their conversation it seemed they all were having quite a decent time, like a normal family at breakfast.

"Kai, you fried my egg too much! Look how messy its now!"

"If its messy it doent mean its not good, Javier!"

"But look at it! Would you eat such a thing?"

A long sigh was heard. "Ok, I will fry another one then."

A slight chuckle was heard as more plates hit each other. But then something else caught her attention. The sound of an egg being thrown in hot cooking oil. Smiling at herself, Nicole muttered "That guy is really going to fry another one…"

Without knowing it, she ended up leaning against the wooden door, and because of the weak lock, the door opened and she found herself almost falling as the door moved. She was lucky enough to gain her control soon enough and remain on her own two legs. The door hit itself on the wall and everyone's attention was drawn to the girl. As soon as she rose her own eyes to met theirs she knew they weren't exactly impressed by her unusual appearance and entrance.

Swallowing the excess of saliva in her mouth, the only thing Nicole managed to say was a long and confused "ummmmm". Luckily she was saved by one of the people in the room.

"Good morning!" said a cheerful voice of a young girl. Looking up, she saw her sitting at the table with huge glass of orange juice in front of her. She was, most likely the one who didn't liked her eggs. Hopefully this time, Nicole managed to speak correctly a word.

" 'Morning…"

"Now look who is up. Good morning." This voice was defiantly the one of the older man. He was also sitting on the table with a cup of coffee and a few pages of a newspaper in his hands. Even if most of the older people weren't such a bright appearance, Nicole could tell from the look in his eyes this man was kind and truthful. The warmth of his words was almost like the one of the sun. He didn't had a rusty voice, fact which made Nicole think he never really smoked in his life. The girl couldn't do anything but rise her hand and wave it a little, just like retards done. She mentally slapped herself.

"You must be Nicole, right?" She nodded slowly in response to his question.

"Hagi told me you came last night." Her eyes went wide. That was the name of the servant? What kind of name was 'Hagi'? Maybe he was…European or something like that. "I am Gray, the owner of this little orphanage." By this time, he got up from his seat and walked over to the girl. Extending his hand towards her, he gave her a smile from beneath his gray moustache. "Welcome."

Nicole was rather stunned by this kind of behavior. From what she heard, orphanages weren't the kind of places you were treated too well. Even his name made her think of a completely bald man, fully dressed in black whom, why not, had a whip or something and every single kid in the place feared him. But this Gray was greeting them like that? Even have breakfast with them?(because she saw the little girl at the table). The teenager snapped quickly out of her thoughts and extended her hand as well, to shake the old man's.

"Nicole Castle, New York…" she muttered as she didn't dare rise her eyes.

"Nicole? That is a lovely name!" another girls voice caught her attention. Peeking her eyes from behind the old man, she saw a tanned girl with blonde curls also sitting besides the young girl at the table. Gray let out a chuckle.

"Where are my manners?.." he asked rhetorically. "Let me introduce you to my friends." While saying this, he went to a side and gestured with his other hand towards his companions. "She is Monique, the little one is Javier and he is the worlds greatest chef Kai." His hand went from the blonde girl to the child and to another guy, not older then she was with spiked red hair who was struggling to fry an egg the way Javier wanted to.

"Ha-ha, very funny ol' man…" he said full of sarcasm as he turned around. Nicole couldn't help but notice how serious his black eyes were even with such an easy task such as frying an egg, but what truly caught her attention was the beautiful jewel hanging from his neck. It was crimson red and it matched perfectly the dirty red spikes in his hair. Even if she wanted to ask 'Are those natural or dyed?' Nicole decided it was better if she kept her mouth shut. Instead, she waved her hand again slowly, like a retard and saluted them in a low voice.

"Hi…"

"Well hi there." Kai told her as he placed a new plate with the egg he fried in front of Javier. He didn't even bothered to watch her ore then a couple of second. This made the girl feel quite insecure. Even if these people were quite nice, Nicole still felt like there a lot more to do to win their trust and..why not friendship? "Do you want an egg too?" Kai asked as he turned to the fridge and opened it to grab the bottle of milk. Much to her discomfort, Nicole's stomach growled, giving him her response.

"So that is a yes I think." Gray said as he let out a chuckle. "Kai, do you mind? In the mean time, why don't you sit with us and tell more about yourself?" the teen could've felt the old man's hand on her back as he pushed her softly from behind. Inwardly, she done just as he said, taking a seat next to Monique.

"Hi!" she said cheerfully as she gave Nicole a smile. She replied with a small curve of lips herself. "Its been a while since I had someone my own age around to talk, you know, just like girls do." With this she covered her mouth to surpress her giggles, but failed to do so. Nicole couldn't help but slightly roll her eyes. Monique would soon enough have a surprise since she was to find out she wasn't quite the type of girly girl and so on.

"Don't be mean!" Javier punched her playfully in the arm. "What about Mao?" the teen's eyebrows rose slightly. There were more persons in the place after all.

"Well, you know Mao spends all her time with Okamura so…" Monique blinked one eye to Javier. The little girl made a suspicious "oooooh". The only think Nicole could think at this point was 'Those two surely are sexing up…' Thank God no one was able to hear thoughts around the place.

"Ouch! Dammit!" Nicole turned her head around to see the red haired guy struggling to break and egg. Well, that wasn't the actual problem; the problem was it's contents went flying right on his dark blue tank top. He turned around with a defeated look on his face. "Don't you guys dare!" he warned as he saw Gray's and Monique's smiling faces. Javier couldn't take it and she just brust out laughing. And Nicole allowed herself to smile at his silliness, but she quickly covered her face with one hand.

"Ummm..Nicole, how about some milk and cereal?" Kai asked as he tried to clean up his clothes with a bunch of paper towels. It was oblivious he wanted to escape the task of cooking again, but it also was oblivious he wasn't really in the mood to do so either.

"Sounds great to me." Nicole said as she rested her head on her fist. After this she just watched him as he grabbed a box of chocolate cereal and the bottle of milk among with a bowl and a little spoon. Preparing herself her own meal, she started to eat quietly and listening to what the others said. Kai took a seat himself near Gray soon enough.

While eating the teenager had to agree on one thing; it seemed to be pretty much a normal family meal. They discussed about the news, what flowers Javier wanted to pick after breakfast and other minor things. What Nicole found interesting was that the guy named Kai didn't seem to take part in the discussion as much as the others done. He remained silent with a cup of coffee in front of him which he sipped down his throat every now and then. From the face he made after each gulp, she could've told the liquid didn't had any sugar or cream in it. Also, he was the first one to leave the table, saying he had others important things he had to take care of.

Soon after this, she had finished her cereal as well, and got up to wash the bowl.

"Oh, no, let me take care of that." Monique jumped out of her chair and went at sink and took the item out of her hand. Nicole stroke back soon, almost embarrassed. "Its ok, I will wash it."

"Let her do it, Nicole. You please come with me, to show you your room." Gray's strong voice called as he rose from the table himself and went at the door. The teen's eyes moved from Monique to him and back.

"Its ok1" she assured Nicole as she went from the sink towards Gray.

Seconds later, she picked up her backpack only; Gray insisted to carry the suitcase himself, and the two of them went upstairs. Yet again, the girl found herself at one of the ends of a long corridor. "Come" the man said as she followed, not too close. A minute later, he stopped in front of a dark brown room. From what she noticed it was renovated recently since she could've smell the paint used on the wood and the new shiny handle. Using a key, he opened it and made way for her to enter first.

"You room is right next to Hagi and Saya's." he spoke. "Be careful, the rooms look quite alike so don't confuse them, ok?"

"I see." Nicole dropped her backpack on the bed. But then she remembered something. "Excuse me but, this Hagi person…" she started as she turned around to face Gray. "Is he some kind of servant of yours?"

Surprisingly, he started to laugh a little. "Servant?" he asked as if what she just said was a joke. "Of course not. There are no such thing here." He brought Nicole's suitcase and placed it besides her bed as well. "On a second thought…"

Nicole tilted her head to a side a little as her right brow rose in confusion. "So he is a servant?" she asked curious. Just after she done so, she felt like she needed a slap…again. Curiosity was one of her biggest flaws. Much to her surprise, Gray remained silent for a few seconds before sighing and giving her a small smile. Her eyes went wide once more as she expected an answer.

"Hagi is a good person." He said much to her disappointment. "Maybe you will get to meet him and Saya soon enough." By this time, gray was at the door way. "I left your key over there" he gestured towards the night table. "I hope you will like this room."

A small smile was the only thing Nicole seen before he disappeared closing the door behind him. With a sigh, she dropped on the bed, testing its softness. Unlike the couch it was soft and comfortable, so she sank deeply in the white and clean sheets. "Hm…lemon." She muttered at the sent that filled her nose.

Staring blankly at the ceiling, Nicky started to think what just happened and what will happen. What was with that Hagi guy? What about Kai and his seriousity thing? Who was Saya? And mostly, why was everybody so nice around the place? Something was telling her to keep her guard up. Who knows why Cornelius sent her here, and she wasn't going to take any risks. Rolling on the bed until she was laying on her tummy, Nicky reached her backpack and took from a side pocket a small black and silver penknife. It had a button on one of its side shaped in the form of a skull. Pressing it, a shiny blade pooped out from the handler.

It was one the very few things that still connected her with the other street maniacs, but she decided to keep it for safety measures. Still, it wasn't the only reason she kept it. It was a rather new item; she receive it a year ago when Anna herself got a full pack of them for each one of the members in her crew. Also, she told them all to keep it close cause it might get useful at times, but above all these reasons Anna strongly believed it was some sort of ID for them. Anyways it was a knife and knifes are for protection. And while she was around, Nicky had a need to feel safe, so she digged it inside one of the pockets of her jeans, deep enough not to be seen but still reachable. She narrowed her eyes a little; she felt the cold metal already and it made her feel somehow safer already.

Rising from her seat, she went at the window. The sun was up in the sky and there was no trace of clouds. It was some kind of announcement that it will be a clear and nice day outside. A soft wind blew some of the bangs of brown hair that covered her face and revealed more of her narrowed eyes. After she would finish arranging her stuff, she will be going outside for a little research.

From the outside, the little innocent farm had one of its windows closed and the hangings blocked the sun from entering. It was the window from Nicole's room.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter IV – Just the other freak in the corner

An hour had passed since Nicole received her new room. Just enough time to check it out, take a very cold shower, change clothes and go outside. And it haven't even passed a whole hour! There still was plenty of time for a nice siesta under a tree. It seemed all that chocolate cereal gave the girl a sugar rush… but hopefully it didn't last that long. She already was somewhere in the little forest or park thing the farm was next to, up in a tree all relaxed and with a lollipop in her mouth. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and a slight splash of water could've been heard from a near by river. Too bad the maniac had her headphones digged deep in her ears and big sunglasses on her nose. She missed all the fun and she didn't seem to care about that. Behind her sunglasses her eyes were closed as she flipped the lollipop from a side to the other inside her mouth. Also, a normal persons ears would have bled if they were exposed to such a high volume of rap music.

Finally she made a move. A long yawn.

Too bad she didn't even put her hand to her mouth. The teen ended up almost swallowing a bug or a leaf. "Bleah!" she coughed out the 'intruder'. It seemed it was an innocent ladybug whom had flew away as soon as she was freed.

Opening her eyes wide, she took off her sunglasses and placed them careless on top of her head. With a grunt and a glare she swore under her breath. "Stupid nature…!" but it seemed with all that music bombarding her ears she didn't knew how load the words came out. It was almost a yell, just like Tarzan's. A female, rap-rock, dancing and very vulgar Tarzan. Nicole slapped herself for real this time. Nature was doing her no good after all…

There goes her almost perfect siesta.

Nicky sighed as she launched herself from the tree down on the grass. Hopefully she wasn't too high, and thanks to toad and his parkour lessons she learned how to do a lading without hurting her kneels too much.

'Landing.'

The mere word brought her again the memory of the last rehearsal of the maniac's dance.

"Goddamit!" she shouted less loudly then last time, since by this time one of the headphones got out of her ear. But still loud enough Tarzan had an new arch nemesis. After one or two kicks into the air and in the dirt, Nicky collapsed under the tree eyes closed and with no music or sunglasses on. She had to think of something else…

Yes, the sun was shining, the birds were singing and the slight splash of water from a near by river could've been heard. As she concentrated on the sound around her, Nicole heard a voice. It was faint but certainly it was a voice…

"This way Hagi. I believe it came from this place."

Her eyes went wide open as she got up incredibly fast and climbed the tree as fast as she could. Once up there, she hanged herself on a few branches higher then first time she went up and hid herself from whoever came that way. Reaching into her pocket, she grabbed the penknife tight and was ready to take it out as quickly as possible. The sound of footsteps was heard along with several leaves and bushes being disturbed from their static position. Nicole was sure someone was coming her way, but then she noticing something that she didn't. The voice said 'Hagi'.

"Hagi?" she questioned herself as she bent down, curious to see if the one coming towards her was indeed the servant(she still believed he was one). Anyway, she made the mistake to step on a thin branch which was most likely to crack under her weight any time.

Nicole remained on her position as she watched the two persons that came in the view; a man and a girl.

It was more then clear that the man was the one named Hagi, the servant who opened her the door last night and let her inside the house. Here in the sunlight, the teen could've seen his features a lot better, so she examined him as closely as possible and staying as motionless as she could. He wore the very same jacket and his hair was tied up in the same way. Hagi had the same elegant and manly posture, it almost made the girl shiver at his perfection. Was that even possible for a man to be so… unrealistically perfect?! The only thing different about him was a large metallic case he carried on his left shoulder. It had a nice gothic or maybe Victorian silver design and it seemed to have the shape of a coffin suitable for a 7 year old child. Nciole shivered at the thought. A coffin for a kid?! Really, her imagination was far to wild.

The other person was a girl. She seemed to be the very same age as herself and her appearance resembled Hagi's pretty well. She wore a purple jacket and watching boots. Nicole couldn't have told what she wore underneath, but she was sure as hell this girl was really hot under that jacket… really, it was summer after all! The teenager however liked her haircut and hair color. From a certain angle, it resembled Anna's hairstyle only this girl's hair was slightly shorter and less messier.

"Do you see anyone?" she asked as she got near the tree Nicky was hiding in. "I could've swore I heard a scream from over here."

"I heart it as well, but I don't really see anyone." Hagi replied as he scanned the area slightly.

From her hideout up in the tree, Nicky had smirked to herself. They made this game far too easy. She was about to made a move a la Toad to express her victory, but just then, because of the sudden motion a small crack was heard. It was the branch under her feet. Grabbing some others, Nicky clenched her teeth and mentally swore.

That little move was enough for him. Hagi pinned his eyes to the upper part of the tree. "Saya." He said monotone as the girl also looked up with a slight "hm?". As she grabbed tighter onto the branches Nicky rolled her eyes. 'Well, at least I know this is the Saya the old man was talking about earlier.' The branch cracked some more. Nicky grunted a 'oh shit!"

Saya's eyes went on her companion slightly narrowed. "Hagi." She simply called to him as the man gave her a nod and disappeared just like that. Nicole had her own things to worry about so she wasn't paying any attention to the two under the branches. Another crack. By this time she was sure it wasn't safe is she remained up on that one, so she grabbed as tight as she could on the branches she caught on earlier and swung her body until her feet touched what seemed to be a secure one, but before she could've put all her weight on it, it broke. Nicky let out a small yell. Ok, she didn't care if she was seen, she needed help for real this time.

"Someone there!" she shouted as she shot a look down. "I could use a little help please!"

Without her knowing it, Hagi used his inhuman speed until he went up near Nicole, but despite her he knew how to keep himself hidden. Watching how she made a total fool out of herself, but also noticing the fact that she was in real danger to fall and broke a leg arm or even neck, he made his way quickly back on secure earth. For the hanging girl, his rapid moves were nothing more but a breeze. When he was back on safe land, Hagi was careful enough to tell Saya "No chiropterans. Its just the new orphan."

Only after this, the two of them heard Nicole's shouts for help. "Hagi!" the girl called panicked when she saw that she couldn't hang in there for long. Yet again, with a nod he positioned himself right where Nicole would've land if she fell.

"Lets yourself go!" Saya yelled. It seemed Nicole had heard her.

"Are you CRAZY?!" she yelled back as she felt her fingers slipping away.

"Just do it!"

Gulping the excess of saliva in her mouth, the teenager already made her opinion of Saya. She WAS crazy. But still, with each passing second her fingers were slipping away, so she was to fall sooner or later. Closing her eyes tight, she let go of the wood.

"AAAAAAAHH!" Nicole yelled as gravity brought her closer and closer to earth. She had enough time to crawl up in a tight ball, clench her teeth and shut her eyes closed in the process. Before she knew it, her falling body met some kind of branches? She stopped her yell and gasped for air as she realized it was true. She wasn't falling anymore. Opening only one eye, she had the surprise to find herself hanging off the ground. Opening both eyes, she had another bigger surprise to find out that Hagi was holding her just like he would've help a basketball.

Saya ran to them. "Are you alright?" she asked Nicole with oblivious concern in her voice.

But the victim was not alright. Inwardly she started to laugh like a retard while pointing towards Hagi and the tree a couple of times.

"I.." a laugh. "…fell down.." another laugh. "And he caught me…" by this time she was in a whole giggle session. Hagi exchanged with Saya confused looks.

"Um..you must be the new orphan?" Saya questioned as she tried to change the subject.. Also, she made a quick nod towards her companion which meant it was ok if he would put her down, thing which the man done a second later.

Panting for air, Nicole still had a slight problem with her re-gaining her balance, so she found the black dressed man, because he was so tall and all, was a great replacement for a wall or pole she could lend on. The teenager slap her forehead and sighed at Saya question.

"Yeah… I'm the new one." She said between pants as she tried to get her heart beat to run at its normal rate. "You must be Saya, right?"

The girl couldn't help but nod at her question. Hagi just remained silent as he always did. Because she was looking at her, Nicky didn't knew her answer, but she was already sure enough she was the one. After all, Hagi called her that way. Turning her head a little to face her and freeing Hagi from his 'supporting wall' role, Nicole shot Saya with the most serious look she had in store. The slayer flinched a little.

"Well, mind if we talk a little?"

TO BE CONTINUED…


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter V – Having 'The Talk'

"…and so I ended up in that tree." Nicole finished her story while planting a huge smirk on her lips. Watching Saya as she burst out laughing, it made her chuckle herself as well.

"So, you want to make me believe a huge stone gargoyle kidnapped you and hanged you up there?" the girl said while wiping a tear away. Nicole gave her a huge grin before making a tongue out face and tilting her head to a side.

"Nah.." she said a few moments later. "I just got scared and climbed higher to hide and see who was coming this way."

"Wow, you sure are a big liar, Nicole."

"Yup, and I'm proud of it!" the girl rose her fist into the air and grabbed her bicep as if she wanted to show Saya all her strength. The two girls ended up giggling once more.

Its been almost 30 minutes since Nicole was discovered from her hidden corner, and saved as well, by Saya and Hagi. Just like the teenager said right after she was on safe ground again, the two of them started to talk, and of, course, the first question she was asked was why she climbed up in there at all? Nicole thought that gargoyles were the perfect ones to blame, so she made up a quick story. Hopefully she bought the joke and realized she was no thread. Nicole and Saya remained under the tree, sitting down and enjoying its cool shadow. Hagi did nothing more but lend against its wooden trunk and leave the metal coffin thing lay next to him. The male didn't seem to take part at the conversation. In fact, Nicole almost forgot once or twice he even was there, right behind Saya.

After the giggling season ended, Nicole wiped away a tear and remembered about the quite man again. Rising an eyebrow she tilted her head so she could see him better, but still she didn't had a good view on his face.

"Why is your guy mute as a fish?" she asked rudely as she pointed a finger towards him. Saya stopped her laugh as well with a little 'oh'. It was quite clear she wasn't expecting this kind of question. From that angle, Nicky was convinced he heard her question and even flinch a little at it. But still, no words whatsoever… after a short moment of silence, Saya spoke first.

"Hagi is a man of few words." She said with a rather serious and guilty look on her face. Nicky's eyebrow rose itself even more. "And he is my friend, not 'my guy'." She continued as she put a certain accent on the last two words. The teenager's mouth dropped open as she moved the lollipop to the other side of her mouth with her tongue. Yes, surprisingly she still had it in her mouth.

"Oh, yeah..sorry." Nicole apologized, but it was evident she didn't truly mean it. But she decided to continue with her interrogatory; "So..whats with the coffin thing?" she asked as her gaze moved towards the metallic case between Saya and Hagi. Inwardly, he put a hand on it, almost protective. Nicole's eyes grew a little wide. It was one of those moments when she was so thankful to Maria when she thought her a few things about body language. That little gesture meant that thing was something important for the man, something he wanted to keep a secret maybe. Once more, Saya asked her question.

"It's a cello." She said softly. "Hagi can play it really good."

"Oh, nice." Another moment of silence came between the girls before Nicky asked another question.

"Can I see it-?"

"I am afraid you can't."

Much to her surprise, Saya herself flinched when she heard the voice. Both girls turned their heads towards him. Nicole's eyes went wide as her jaw dropped as well. One more second and her lollipop would've feel from the corner of her mouth. "At least, not now." Hagi continued as he turned his head slightly and shot Saya a questionable look. The other girl just remained silent as she watched the two of them communicating without words. They were defiantly hiding something… Her attention was drawn back to reality by Saya's question.

"Um..well, where do you come from, Nicole?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. New York." She replied monotone as she moved her gaze towards her toes.

"Wow that sure is a long way from here… don't you miss your friends or family?" the slayer asked as she tried to be polite but it seemed that she missed something. If she was here it meant…

"No, I don't really miss my friends." She told her while wiggling her toes inside her huge skating shoes. "And my old ones passed a while ago. Car accident."

Saya, put a hand to her mouth. Maybe she done a bad thing asking that. Someone who suffered such a loss should not be reminded that in their first day at an orphanage. But what made her curious, was the calm and careless voice Nicole used when talking about them. It was rather odd.

"I.. sorry I asked about that." She told the girl while lowering her gaze as well.

"Don't be." Nicole's words came roughly out of her mouth. "It happened and its nothing you or me can do about that." By this time her voice gained a little 'spirit' as she spoke. Saya wondered if she was over the tragedy already. "Plus, I don't believe a family is the one who shares the same blood." Nicole turned her head and gave Saya a slight smile.

Saya was stunned by her words. In the next second she was reminded by one of her enemy's words who said he and the other chevaliers were her true blood family. A shiver ran down her spine as the memory pierced her brain. On the outside, her eyes went wide and her jaw slightly dropped open.

"Saya?" Nicole asked, bringing her back to reality.

"Huh? Yes?"

"Are you ok? You seem a little pale."

"Im ok, don't worry about me." She forced a smile as she brought her own hand to her forehead, wiping it a little. After a long sigh, she turned her attention towards the other girl. "So, tell me more about you. In the document it said you studied art."

Nicole allowed herself to chuckle a little. "Yeah, I kinda did, but not art like drawing and painting. I studied the guitar." She admitted as she changed her sitting way, positioning herself Turkish style, in the lotus position. Saya made a little admiration sound.

"That seemed interesting. Is that why you wear these clothes as well?" she asked with a hint of irony as she shot a look at her black t-shirt who had written on it "LET"S F_CK! All I need is 'u'!". Looking down at her clothes Nicole chuckled a little again. Compared with Saya she was dressed rather weird. She wore that black t-shirt who had attached to it a hoodie as well, camouflage baggy pants with a shit-load of pockets and her feet were covered by khaki and gray skating shoes each with a different shoelace color. Dark green on the left and light green on the right. Despite the heat outside, her head was covered by a beanie which was almost covering her eyes as well.

"Well, this is my style. All my friends dressed like this back home." She told Saya after a brief moment. "Plus, I can dance a lot easier if I wear baggy things." She added while grabbing the sides of her over sized t-shirt.

"Dance?" Saya questioned confused. "You took dance classes as well?"

"Oh hell no!" Nicole replied. "You really think im the type of girl who would do the tango?"

Saya scanned her companion quickly and shook her head no, with a slight smile planted on her face.

"Of course I didn't, silly! Everything I learned came from the street." Nicole almost yelled out load, again throwing her fist into the air. The other girl watched her excitement closely as allowed herself to smile. "Let me show you." Nicole added as she took from one of her many pockets her cell phone. After a little moment in which she searched for what she wanted to find, the teenager clicked on a file and music could've been heard from the little phone's speaker. Saya's eyes were pinned to the phone as Nicole already started to tap the main beat of the song with her right foot.

"Look." She said along with the singer. A second later she continued. "If you had, one shot, or one opportunity… to seize everything you ever wanted-One moment. Would you capture it, or just let it slip?"

Nicole kept a serious look and her eyes were pinned right on Saya's as she spoke. It seemed the message was somehow aimed to her very person, and the way, the teen managed to say every single verse made the hairs on the back of that slayer's neck rise as a shiver traced her spine. Saya couldn't help it and she let out a small grunt. In the next second, Hagi's eyes narrowed as they were immediately pinned on the two girls.

"Yo, His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy  
There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti  
He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready  
To drop bombs, but he keeps on forgetting  
What he wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loud  
He opens his mouth, but the words won't come out  
He's chokin, how everybody's jokin now  
The clock's run out, time's up, over bloah"

The song continued, and Nicole let the singer say the lyrics on his own, only mouthing several phrases every now and then. Just she was used to, she moved her head from side to side or forwards or backwards pretty much like an owl did, and her free hand kept gesticulating again and again, just like a true rapper done.

"Snap back to reality, Oh there goes gravity  
Oh, there goes rabbit, he choked  
He's so mad, but he won't give up that  
No, he won't have it , he knows his whole back city ropes  
It don't matter, he's dope  
He knows that, but he's broke  
He's so stacked that he knows  
When he goes back to his mobile home, that's when it's  
Back to the lab again yo  
This whole rap shit  
Better go capture this moment and hope it don't pass him"

After the very first verse, Nicole surprised Saya by snapping her fingers in front of her, making the girl jump in surprise. It was clear she was concentrating to try to understand what the man said, since he was talking really fast. The slayer wondered how in the world, did this orphan manage to keep up at such a rate, since she started to sing along right after she snapped her fingers. She watched as she made a specific sign with her hand to match each verse, such as "oh, there goes gravity" or "He's so mad". On the other hand, Hagi didn't seem to enjoy the music the way Nicole or Saya did. Because of his sharp chiropteran senses, he managed to understand more from the verses then Saya. Several thoughts ran through his head, along with questions. Was this melody addressed to the two of them? He knew it a "he" mentioned in the lyrics, but with the corner of his eye he saw Saya's reactions. The chevalier didn't knew why, but the mere attitude Nicole adapted while singing made him be prepared for an attack. Hagi had to admit, he didn't really know much about modern music, but it surely had a huge influence on someone's emotion, feelings and attitude, human and chiropteran. And the way Nicole acted now almost scared Saya.

You better lose yourself in the music, the moment  
You own it, you better never let it go  
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow  
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime! You better…

The chorus pierced through his ears. It made his eyes go slightly wide at the mere thought of the first line. Yes, it was true. For him as a musician it was necessary, even vital to sacrifice his own being to the music he played. It was mostly because of his queen and her wish to hear him play his cello every now and then, but he never thought of it as a burden, not even once. Even more, he was thankful he was allowed to enjoy the beautiful notes the instrument created. And knowing that the music was created because of his own wish, out of his own talent, made Hagi feel accomplished, relaxed and most of all happy.

But this violent tune, this vulgar and sharp melody and these tense lyrics were the things that made Nicole happy? She said she danced, but what kind of dace would be appropriate for this musical aberration? It was one of the things that woke him an interest for this orphan. But 'interest' was not a proper word; maybe 'curiosity' was better to use in her case. Even more; it was no mystery by now for a person who loved music, such as himself and Nicole, if you dedicate yourself to the music you listen, sooner or later it will become a definition for your personality, way of thinking and feelings. Hagi played the cello, a romantic and melancholic musical instrument which he loved to use to recreate a nostalgic and full of memories atmosphere. By simply touching the strings with the bow, he managed to fill the ears of the people around him with a heart-touching sound which most of the time resembled the cry of the loved one. Or, at least this was his way to think of his music.

But Nicole, what kind of person was she to enjoy this kind of music? Even more, Hagi saw that it had already become a part of her life, of her being. The way she sang along with the singer, the way her hands moved around and gesticulated at every verse, and the look in her eyes confirmed it all.

The man lowered his head a little as he clenched his teeth a little. It was rather sad to see such a fragile girl so vulgar and pretending to be so strong, when it was more then clear she wasn't.

As Nicole sang the chorus for the second time, visibly enjoying her time, the song was interrupted by a small beeping. Both Nicole and Saya made a little exclamation sound. Turning her cell phone towards her the teen read the message displayed on the screen.

"Dammit." She said after a couple of second. She let out a sigh and turned to Saya. Before she could ask her companion what happened, the slayer received her answer. "Low battery alert…"

Saya nodded her head a little as her gaze dropped on her toes.

"So, what'cha think?" the girl besides her asked as she dig the device inside one of the many pockets. She leaned her head backwards until it hit the trunk on the tree.

Saya narrowed her eyes a little at her question. She didn't truly enjoyed the song or her singing. Just like Hagi, she was thinking what kind of person would listen to such music. At some points it even sent a shiver down her spine. Still, what she truly found interesting was how calm and serious the orphan managed to be while listening and singing along.

"It was interesting, but not really my cup of tea." She finally said while letting out a nervous laugh. Nicole turned her head towards her and allowed herself to smile.

"You are not really into rap-rock, right?" she asked with a slight grin.

"No, not really."

"It's ok, I didn't even expected you to be."

Saya turned her head quickly when she heard Nicole's last reply. She didn't knew if she had to be either comforted or insulted by this remark. Instead she met once more that innocent yet confusing smile planted on the girls face. The only thing she found utile was smiling back.

The only one who remained the very same was Hagi. Even more, his eyes narrowed themselves even more when he heard their little conversation.

Her new room was so damn silent and monotone, it reminded Nicole of an asylum. No wallpapers, no colors, no nothing! Comparing it with her old room, back in NY made the girl sigh only. Back there, the bed had black sheets with small white and gray skulls not the boring light blue ones she had here. Not to mention they smelled like old people; the smell that made Nicole wanna vomit. In her old room, there were only ten square inches where you could've actually see the colors of the walls because the rest of them were covered with wallpapers, flags, and she even glued on that old pair of red converses which helped her win their first dancing contest. All kind of pictures, drawers, broken disco balls or skateboards were gathered in a corner and the floor was nicely decorated with a fuzzy disco pink and black carpet and several clothes. Maybe it wasn't the best place to live in, but it was her own place, her identity.

But this room… What in the world was in this room?! A big fat nothing. The walls were painted with a light shade of gray, the entire floor was covered by two big carpets, one with blue flowers on it and the furniture was plain brown and old, just like the one she found in her grandmothers house. It was just boring.

Even if Nicole was planning on doing something about this, she just lay on her bed and ate several gummy bears while staring at the ceiling. She returned from her little siesta outside about fifteen ago and was currently meditating about Saya and her friend. Of course she made sure she plugged her phone to recharge it again and changed her clothes, from the baggy camouflage pants to simpler black ones and the beanie went flying somewhere under her bed. Also, after she reached the lemon layer of the lollipop, Nicole decided it was time to throw it away… outside the window.

Quickly checking the phone, she let out a sigh. It was almost noon. Closing her eyes, she tore apart the head of a green gummy bear and enjoyed its green apple aroma. Time seem to pass a lot slowed in the country side. If nothing interesting wasn't going to happen soon enough, she knew it was pretty possible for her to go insane. Which didn't sounded cool at all.

Without any kind of warning the phone beeped again. Turning her head a little to a side, she recognized the alarm as the one she had programmed to announce her whenever she recived a text message. Her eyebrow rose confused. She didn't even knew she had signal out here. Rolling on her belly, Nicole placed yet another bear in her mouth, this time a yellow one, and grabbed her phone, still plugged to the electric socket.

_You have 1 unread message. _Said on the screen. Nicole pressed the 'read' button without even checking who was the one who sent it to her. She had to admit, she was expecting a bill announcement or a commercial ad thing, but when her eyes met the imagine which was sent along with the text her, they immediately grew wide. The imagine was the icon for the club the Manics used to have their contests to. A black and white picture of a masked dancer doing the figure they called 'chopper' and another man, behind him mixing at a DJ table. A knot formed in her throat as she read the text bellow it;

_IT had began again! Players, the next battle will take place under the great dick of London, at Rat's Hole. Dance or die once more this night at midnight!_

Nicole was stunned. How in the world did she receive this? Miles away from home, from where it all started… Was it possible for this thing to reach London as well? Did it become such a world wide event in the underworlds? Or was it some kind of sick joke?? She haven't got the slightest idea how she got this, but the girl was indeed impressed of how advanced this system had to be. Nicole rose her eyes and stared blankly at her bare feet. It was a clear invite, just like the ones she got when she was with the crew. Right now it was clear she wasn't going to dance, but still the thought of going was really appealing. Still, even if she wanted to go, where the hell did she had to go? 'The great dick of London'? What the hell was that? Even more, she was now at an orphanage; how was she going to convince Gray to let her out at night time?

The girl crawled up into a ball and hugged her knees tightly. She had exactly 12 hours to think about her next move, since she had decided to attend this meeting.

TO BE CONTINUED...

* * *

A/N: ok, i had a huge block on this chapter so... im sorry if any of you will feel disappointed :( just to make it clear, the song is Eminem - Lose yourself(great song if you ask me ^^) also, please review! It would make me really happy^^ And from this point on the real fun begins! I can only tell you Nicole will gt herself into trouble... and it wont be pretty, especially for a certain chevalier. ^^ See you around!


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter VI – There Is No Such Thing As Boundaries

"Hello Kai!" Monique saluted her friend as he entered the kitchen. The young man rose his hand and waved it a little in front of her, without bothering to verbalize at all. The girl just turned around at washing the dishes they used at lunch. "You missed the meal again you know." She told him as the water covered her hands. Again, she never heard a decent response, just a bored grunt.

Kai took off his dirty green jacket and hanged it on a chair before taking a seat and pinning his chin and right cheek on his fist. His eyes just stared out blankly at the white sheets that covered the table. They betrayed their owner and made it clear he was in deep thought and even his forehead had a few wrinkles running from an end to the other. He seemed to just finish an activity which required a lot of effort. He heard the girl behind him was arranging the dishes in the drawers. A few seconds later, she turned around to face him. Again, Kai didn't bother to return the favor.

Monique stared at his bored and tired figure several seconds. She couldn't help but feel pity for this young man. Gulping away the knot in her throat, she opened her mouth and asked him;

"What did you found out?"

Kai's eyes slightly narrowed at the question before closing themselves slowly. Another slight grunt was freed as his hand went from under his chin up his cheek, temple and rested on his forehead, rubbing it slightly.

"Nothing new whatsoever…" he replied in a bored voice. The blond girl's gaze dropped on the floor as a small frown was planted on her face. "I see." She muttered more to herself. Her thoughts were rudely interrupted by the young man's voice again.

"How is David?"

Her gaze rose again, eyes full of concern. "Never left his room for almost three days." Kai opened one eye and pinned it on the girl next to him. This surely drawn his attention. Monique continued. "Also, I am afraid he hasn't eaten properly. I tried to bring him food a couple of times but.."

"I see." The boy said interrupting her. "I will try and talk with him again, later on."

Monique nodded, feeling rather relieved at his assurance. After all, David had been in a horrible state even since Saya's fight on the ship a year ago. In his eyes, everything was hopeless without her. It was really sad to see him like this. Kai had already tried to talk with him once, but with no use. This time the young man was planning on throwing all his beer and whiskey away. Maybe this way he will snap back to reality.

A small and sad smile curved the girl's lips as she muttered a little "thank you" in such a low voice, she was sure Kai never heard it. A second after she finished her words the door was again opened wide and slammed on the wall. Both Monique and Kai rose their heads to see who was disturbing the quite atmosphere. Standing there with a bored look planted on her face along with a lot of over smudged black eyeliner, was Nicole with an empty paper bag in her left hand. She shot the two of them a curious look before opening her mouth to speak.

"Hey." She said without bothering to fully turn her head towards them. Instead she went to the trash can and threw away the bag. After this, she went for the fridge and opened it wide. Kai rose an eyebrow and Monique blinked a few times.

"Lunch had already been served, Nicole. I called you but you never answered…" she said as she watched the teen every move.

"Really…?" she said as she ran her hands through several bottles, dishes and jars. It was pretty possible for the teen to have listened to her music while she was called. Still, she wasnt that hungry anyways. After a few minutes she turned her head towards the other girl "Don't you have any soda around?" Monique shook her head 'no'. With a grunt, she slammed the fridge door closed just like she done with the other one. Spinning around on her heels, the girl went straight to the drawers and started to open each and every one of them. "How about some coffee?"

"How about you start saying 'please'?"

Monique turned her head around quickly and stared at Kai who had a rather pissed look on his face. "Kai." she called him as if he done something wrong, but the male wasn't going to give up just like that.

"What?" he asked as he rose from his seat angered. "You should not listen to what this brat says!" By this time his voice rose and his eyes narrowed as he grabbed tight the cloth of his jacket. The blond girl done nothing but stare mute first at Kai then at Nicole, who didn't even took notice his little crises. The teen continued to search through the drawers.

"Found it." She said monotone as she grabbed a black colored jar and almost threw it on the kitchen table.

"Did you listen to me!?" Kai slammed the table with his opened up palm.

Yet again, a moment of silence filled the room. The only sound was made by the cup and pot which were placed as well on the table and prepared to be used. The brown haired girl didn't minded her own business, but she decided that after a whole minute it was time she would give this man an answer.

"Yeah, I did."

The water filled the tea pot and seconds later it was placed on the cooker. The fire was lit and the water sooner or later would've started to boil. She remained in the very same position as earlier, with her back at Kai and Monique, hands on the table supporting her whole torso weight. Behind her Kai was still up with his hand still on the table and the other clenched tight around his jacket. Monique was hugging herself and her eyes stared slightly wide at the brown haired girl. What in the world just happened? Nothing important.

"Stop that!" he yelled as his hand hit again the wood on the table this time his fingers were crawled up into a fist. The shock was great enough to make the girl next to her wimp in surprise and get up from her seat as well, taking a couple of steps backwards. "Who the hell do you think you are!"

"How about YOU calm down first!" The other one barked in his face as she quickly turned her head to face him. By this time, Nicole heard the water boiling. Along with it, her anger was also rising.

"Kai! Nicole! Please knock it off both of you!"

Her eyes flushed for a second towards Monique. It seemed she wasn't the type who enjoyed watching or taking part of these kinds of arguments or fights. She was about to yell at her as well, but the young man was first to do so "Shut up Monique! Its none of your business!"

"You shut up! Why the hell are you yelling at her you ass!"

"Oh so now you are protecting her!"

"I do whatever I want!"

"That is why you slam doors and talk as if we are shit!? You forgot your place you brat!"

"Don't tell me which my place is!"

"Really!? You are here because you don't know which your place is!"

The tea pot started to whistle, sing it was time for the flame to be shut down. But of course none of the three persons in the room cared about this anymore. Monique remained silent her hands covering her ears, eyes shut tight and her back almost glued on the wall. Her eyes opened themselves only when she heard the whistle. What she saw wasn't pretty. Kai and Nicole were face to face, only the table separating them. Both had eyes narrowed and teeth clenched. Both had a deep glare planted on the other. Both were silent now.

The first one who opened his mouth was Kai.

"Now you shut up, huh?! That's what you should do from now on! GOT IT?!"

In the next second everything went silent again. The blond girl's eyes were pinned on both Kai and Nicole. But something seemed to have changed. It was only a slight change but, the girl's eyes seem to shine a lot more in the sun rays then Kai's or even her own. Not, they did not shine; there was a small sparkle in her eyes in those moments. Monique turned her head towards Kai whom had made a small gasp. He also had changed. His eyes were no longer narrowed, they grew wide as well. The girl moved her sight from her to him several times. What in the world was happening? Something. The excess of water in her brown eyes dropped and rolled down her cheek.

Kai opened his mouth to speak. He called her name.

"Nicole-"

"Son of a bitch…"

The next thing Kai had to do was duck the flying tea pot filled with boiling water which was thrown towards his head. Luckily, only a few drops of the hot liquid made contact with his skin, which also made him to flinch a little at the feeling. Behind him, the tea pot shattered as it made contact with the wall, and the water was spilled everywhere. Monique covered her mouth as she gasped deeply and the young male only turned around to see the damage. It was clear the item was never to be used again. Both Kai and Monique turned their heads only to see a door being shut loudly.

"Nicole wait!" she got up from her corner and went after her, but it was already too late. The girl went running up stairs slamming other doors while doing so. Another moment of silence passed in which Kai collapsed in his chair still his eyes wide and his mouth slightly hanging open. "Look what you've done!" the blond girl shouted at him as she ran out after the girl herself.

The only thing left for the young man to do was just sit there and reanalyze what just happen. Well, she moved fast, he had to admit that. Its been only a day since she was here and she already got in a fight. 'Well, it was her fault.' He mentally tried to convince himself, but failed miserable. He also had to admit he surely was a jerk for yelling at her like that about not knowing her place. That surely was a dumb thing to say. Punching slightly his forehead, Kai pinned his head again on his fist and lowered his head. She was right about one thing only; he needed to calm down…

"Oh crap…" he muttered as he rubbed forcefully his forehead. At least there were no victims. Besides the tea pot…

TO BE CONTINUED…

* * *

A/N: this didnt came out as expected, because i wanted to include one more event, but i think one fight is enough ^^() i will type the next one soon enough. Review please! ^o^

Edit: fixed a few spelling and grammar mistakes....


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter VII –I've Got The Power

'Son of a bitch…'

Those words were way to 'gentle' to be used in his case. Or at least this is that she thought right then. And that is also what she just said in his damn ugly face. Still, maybe running away just like that wasn't such a good idea. Maybe it gave him just the satisfaction to see that she actually cared for what he told her. The truth was she didn't truly cared about him and his idiotic self. The truth was she was told such things every single day back when she lived with Cornelius, so she was already used with such treatment. But what hurt her was that he didn't even knew her for more then one day and he already threw that in her face, as if she was nothing more then a piece of junk for him. Yeah, he was a son of a bitch…

Running up the stairs and stopping at the end of the corridor to catch her breath, Nicole gulped away her sobs and violently wiped away the single tear the tickled her cheek. The girl tried to come back in her senses, gasping for air and hiccupping several times. He did not worth her tears or her stress, so why to bother because of these pitiful features she and other humans shared? The girl sighed; sometimes she wished her heart was made out of stone. A big ugly and cold piece of stone, so she didn't had to suffer for nobody. But, then again, Nicole was a very proud person. Being yelled at surely made her ego bleed, so it was pretty often when she tried to stop and breathe so she could also stop her tears or make the anger go away. Which she was already doing right now.

With her back slammed against the wall, Nicole rubbed her eyes violently, until all that eyeliner was smudged pretty much all over her face and hands. 'Calm down calm down calm down' she mentally repeated as she struggled to dry up her tears.

"Nicole!" she heard Monique calling out her name as she started to climb up the stairs as well. Gulping away the knot in her neck she yelled back at her, this time in her normal slightly angered voice;

"Leave me alone!"

Pushing herself so stand on her own two feet and with her gaze lowered she started to walk towards her own room. A minute later, Nicole pushed open the door and took a couple of steps inside, slamming the door behind her closed, just like she done until then. She was ready to throw herself on the bed and dig her face in the cool pillows when a voice called out to her.

"Nicole?"

Her eyes snapped open. The girl knew that voice, she was certain about that. Deep and strong, manly but still gentle. Her eyes slowly rose themselves as she scanned the surroundings. Even if there were several similarities, this wasn't the room Gray gave her. Nicole's eyes dropped on the bed. The sleeping figure of a black haired girl could've been seen and besides her, her friend was sitting down on a chair with an oversized violin between his legs. No, wait, it was a _cello_. Rising her eyes even more, the teen saw Hagi's eyes full of curiosity pinned on her own.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her as he pulled the instrument aside. Nicole felt her knees melting. She missed her room and now she was in Saya and Hagi's. Her hands rose as she started gesticulate fast.

"I-I just went to the kitchen a-and- Kai and I a-and then I missed and i-i-i-" In the next minute a hand was pressed against her mouth, making her to silence down her voice, and another one grabbed her shoulder tight yet careful enough not to cause her a bruise. The girl's eyes grew wide as she realized the man came in front of her and made her shut up, more or less. Staring in his eyes with her own irritated and surprised ones, Nicole heard him talk again:

"You will wake her up."

Turning her gaze towards Saya, the teen realized that she didn't really had that much control on her voice. It was pretty possible that she spoke too loudly. Inwardly she nodded her head a couple of times, and only after this his hand moved away from her mouth, but then other one still remained on her shoulder for a couple more seconds. Nicole sighed in relief when she was free from his gasp. Still, the thought that he touched her like that sent a shiver down her spine. Anyways, how did he move so fast from his seat to in front of her?

But something felt funny. The hand that covered her lips; she didn't felt the warmth of human skin. It felt more like a rough material being pressed against her lips. Touching her bottom lip with the tip of her fingers, Nicole's eyes dropped on his hand which was now hanging lazily on the side of his body. She noticed a bandage covering it from the tip of his fingers up to his wrist. What in the world would cause such a wound?

"How may I help you?"

Her thoughts were interrupted by Hagi's voice once more. Quickly rising her sight so she could stare in his eyes, Nicole remained silent this time. Even if she was a little shock she managed to keep her mouth shut. She really didn't want to make or say she was to regret later on. She wanted to tell him she was ok and she just missed her room but she missed one thing.

"What happened to your eyes?"

Her eyes. All that rubbing and drying the tears up made her eyes look red and irritated, as if she was taking some really nasty eye drops or…Hell knew what happened to her. Quickly lowering her eyes, Nicole also rose her hand and pretended to ran her fingers through her hair, but what she truly wanted to do was covered her eyes. After several moments in which she remained silent, she finally opened her mouth and spoke quickly "Im ok. Why you ask that? Don't I look ok to you?"

Because she had her head down she didn't manage to see Hagi's reaction. His eyebrow slightly rose itself at her reply. It was more then evident she was lying to him. Too bad for him he was playing his cello while Nicole and Kai were having their argument, thus he haven't really heard the two of them yelling one to the other. It was the very same thing for Nicole. She never heard his music because of her own yelling. Hagi extended his bandaged hand once more, this time aiming for her chin, to make her head rose have a better look on her eyes, but his hand was slapped away as soon as it came closer to her face.

"Don't touch me!" she warned as her palm made contact with his hand. Nicole took a step backwards as she turned around and went at the doorway. Opening it, she exited Hagi's room muttering only a dry "Excuse me" while doing so, leaving the young man stare with his solemn figure in her direction. Despite his warning, she slammed the door quite loudly behind her.

Behind him, Saya rolled on her opposite side while moaning slightly. Turning his attention towards her, he went near her in a flash of a second and placed his palm on her forehead. "Hagi…" she called his name, eyes opening slightly. "It's alright Saya."

"I heard something… did anyone came?" she asked as her eyes slowly closed themselves. After a moment of thought her chevalier replied back smoothly.

"There is nothing you should worry about Saya. Please, go back to sleep. You need your rest."

Closing her eyes, and digging her face deep into her pillow Saya done exactly what she was told.

* * *

Nicole's room was filled by a thick smoke, despite the window being wide open. She knew the old man was going to kill her for this, she it was one of those moments in which she needed to calm herself down. And since the chocolate was gone in less then fifteen minutes, the best alternative was a nice and toxic cigarette, right? Or al least this was the logic Nicole used in these 'tense' moments. Pressing the old one in an improvised ash tray and lighting up a new match, Nicole placed the toxic roll to her lips and lit up its opposite end. After one or two deep breaths, she took it from her lips and exhaled the smoke in her lungs, along with a slight cough.

'Kai should feel pretty accomplished.' The girl thought as she stare out the window and then at the smoke in between her fingers. It was true. She managed to give up smoking almost two moths ago and started to eat chocolate like a pig. It seemed she could've lived her whole life without this bad habit, but then again, fuck it! She needs to calm down after a crises like the one she had a couple hours ago. She was human too, right?

The two hours passed by pretty fast. Locked up in her room and ignoring Monique and Gray's pleas to come out and talk, all those offers for comfort and so on, weren't really her cup of tea. Nicole was the kind of person who would most likely be found in a cave, by herself and will still survive just fine.

Right now she sat motionless, only her hand rising and falling from her lips to the ash tray, sitting on the edge of the window sash and watching as the smoke rose itself up into the summer sky. Her eyes were no longer tortured by the excess of make up; they were clean now, but there still were proof of the violent treatment she applied to them earlier. The redness around her eye sockets was still visible, and her eyeballs had a tired aspect. Nicole was simply waiting for the time to pass by, so she could get her ass out of that nicely decorated prison out where she knew her real place was; the streets. She already what she was going to wear and how she was going to escape from the house outside. The only two problems left were how she was going to get back inside and where the Hell, or what the Hell was "the dick of London".

Her head dropped forwards as she coughed out some smoke which the girl forgot to free from her lungs. So many problems, such little time.

It seemed she had to take care of the second problem once she would get in town. Then again how could she get there in first place? A taxi would be too oblivious and the cab drivers always were asses. Walk 20 or more kms until she would reach it? No way. Ask Gray like the nice girl she was (notice the sarcasm please..) to drive her himself to town? Totally out of discussion. As Nicole kept thinking about what to do next, her eyes went wide when she remembered something. As she Saya and Hagi were walking back from their little walk earlier that day, they passed a garage, which was left open. What caught her eyes was an old motorcycle or motor scooter thingy, and she was more then just sure she saw Kai's red hair behind it. It seemed the great mechanic was fixing up his little baby, right?

A smirk curved Nicole's lips as she rose her head and took another deep breath from her almost finished smoke. What better revenge could she find then steal for one night only his little baby? She had once a scooter herself, that until it was stolen, but she knew how dear it was to her. And it was pretty possible for Kai to care about his own the same.

Pressing the cig in the ash tray where 12 others were 'resting' as well, Nicole got up and went to the bathroom; it was time for a quick shower to wash away that smell off of her.

* * *

The real fun started around midnight. It was then where the best gangs would gather up to the floor and show what they worked on in the meantime. The crowd would cheer or swear out to the participants if their performance was good or if it was bad. There were also the so called battles, where the dancers went one-on-one on the floor using different surroundings such as blocks with different sizes, ropes, springboards and so on. They guys who were making the design of the floor were full of imagination.

That was Nicole's target for that night.

The sun set two hours ago and the clock showed 10;35 pm. Nicole threw one last look into the mirror. It was as if there was someone else standing in front of her and claimed to be her reflection, but it was true. This was herself. The girl was so shocked, because it was the first time when she used the clothes she wore after a really long time. Her torso was covered by a black sleeveless turtle neck which had fishnets for a sleeve. It was also kind of short since it showed up some of her belly. She wore a pair of dark gray jeans which were slightly more tight then the ones she wore earlier, but they seemed to be pretty old due to the rips and decolorized knees they possessed. Her whole body was covered by a long leather jacket which covered her butt and her feet were digged deeply into military styled boots. Her hair was really messy and puffed, making her head appear two times bigger then it actually was and her eyes were tortured by thick black eyeliner and mascara. She had no accessories whatsoever, only her hands were covered by a pair of fingerless gloves, for safety measures while driving the scooter thing.

The teen sighed. She wasn't too happy with this appearance, but this way the risk of being recognized was lower. Who knew what relatives or friends anyone in the house had that could see her and then unmask her? No sir, this happened once, long ago when she and the Maniacs first went out. It didn't came out pretty at all back then.

Nicole looked around the room to see if there is anything she missed. Her cell phone? In her pocket. The key to her room? In the pocket. The key to Kai's motor? Stolen from his jacket and in her pocket. Enough money? She had that as well. Last but not least, the pack of Dunhill, black edition? In her backpocket.

The girl nodded to herself. Everything was settled. She opened the window and then jumped out landing in a big hayrick. This way she managed to avoid waking everyone up by leaving on the front door. Anyways, she moved pretty quickly. Cleaning herself, then running smoothly towards the garage and opening the old rusty door as quietly as possible, but she kinda failed on doing the second task. As she grabbed the handle and pulled it on her right to open up the door, the heavy metal made a long creaking noise which was pretty distinct in the deaf of the night. Gulping and making an "oopsie" face, Nicole hoped that it didn't woke up anyone and quickly slinked inside.

* * *

Inside the house everything was calm and silent as every single person living there rolled in his or hers sleep, enjoying their sweet dreams. Monique ended up sleeping in the living room on the couch since she was so tired from washing dishes and doing laundry she found it was of no use to climb up those stairs to sleep. The couch was good enough for her. Upstairs, sleeping peacefully was Javier, dreaming that some day she would visit a big arcade or fun park. In her tiny arms rested a dirty brown teddy bear, guarding her from the evil nightmares. A few rooms from this Kai fell asleep on the floor, as he was reading some reports or other documents about chiropterans Joel gave him. In the room next to his, Gray dreamt of the perfect fishing adventures along with his friends, adventure which came right after a nice little get together at a picnic. David, on the other side, slept dreamless, his head full of worries and dark thoughts along with the fumes of alcohol. In the room right next to Nicole's Saya was still asleep. But this wasn't a sleep meant for dreams or nightmares, it was a sleep which was meant to rebuilt her strength. Right besides her, in the dark room, the only person still awake was him. Her chevalier, Hagi.

He sat on his chair arms crossed and eyes closed as if he was meditating. The cello was out of his case, which meant it was played previously. Only a small candle lit up the whole room, making the young man look more human, and giving him some color in his pale cheeks. It made him look so calm and relaxed, but the truth was he was ready to strike at any time if he felt anything out of the ordinary around him. Never letting his guard down, he was ready to protect both himself and his queen.

But then he heard a sound.

His eyes snapped open as he rose from his chair and quickly scanned the room. No movements whatsoever. The sound came from outside. Heading towards the window he leaned a little to see if there was anything he needed to see. The sound was loud enough for a normal human to hear, but still not load to wake them up. A chiropteran would've been so careless if it wanted to sneak inside. Still, he didn't wanted to take any risks. Hagi narrowed his eyes and used his incredible speed to jump outside the window and run exactly where the sound came from: the garage.

* * *

"Damnit!" Nicole grunted as she finally managed to take that damn scooter out of its place. It was true, she dropped it a couple of times on her foot, but as long as it will have the gas tank full and it will take her to London and back it was good enough for her. By this time she was considering looking for a night job or something like that. "Good…" she muttered as she started to push it towards the exit.

But then she heard something. The garage doors opened themselves? 'What the heck?..' the girl thought as her eyes went wide. Turning her head towards the exit, she saw the silhouette of a very tall and slender person, holding the door open with only one hand! Not to mention, it was fully open! She barely managed to open half of it with her whole body weight. Still, it still was a surprise there still was someone around besides her. Letting out a small squeak as she jumped in surprise, Nicole went in the back and put her hands in front of her body as a defense.

"Who the hell are you!" she shouted trying to make it sound as if it was a warning. Much to her surprise, the figure already knew her name.

"Nicole?" The girls eyes went wide as she went in a normal position again.

"Hagi?!"

The young man came closer inside the garage as he kept his solemn and serious figure. When he got two feet away from her, the girl saw that his eyebrow slightly rose itself. Shaking her head and the confusion away, Nicole spoke again.

"Why aren't you sleeping?" she asked him as she put her hands on her hips, in superiority.

"I could ask you the same question." He replied. Without her knowing it the young man scanned her from head to toes. And thus the raised eyebrow. Her appearance was at least bizarre, it was nothing like what he saw her wearing earlier that day. It seemed that an evil Nicole took the old one's place. After this, his eyes dropped on Kai's scooter, which was out of its place. Was she going out? This late? He rose his gaze to the girl, their eyes meeting.

"What happened to your face?" he asked monotone as he took one more step forward, to see the 'damage' better. It seemed Nicole didn't liked his question. She punched him in the arm, but as a chiropteran, Hagi barely felt when her fist made contact with his skin.

"It's none of your business! Just get out of my way!" the girl told him as she grabbed once again the scooter's handlebar and tried to pass by the man in front of her, but she was rudely grabbed by the shoulder. "Let go of me!" she yelled at him as she struggled to get his hand away, but since her own two hand were grabbing into the scooter, she didn't really managed to slap his hand away again. But then her eyes dropped on his hand. The bandaged one again…?

"You sneaked out."

Nicole's gaze dropped. Yeah she did sneak out. Did he had a problem with that? Pressing her lips together, she let go of the motor thing and turned to him, slapping away his hand from her shoulder while doing so. She stared at him for a couple of seconds, before lowering her head and sighing. How the hell to say this?

"Ok, I know I look weird, something is wrong with my face and so on but…" she made a little pause. Hagi's eyebrows slightly narrowed. "Would you please shut up for me?" she rose her head to met his eyes. It was a good thing she was so tall. Out of her crew, she was the tallest girl and compared with Hagi, he was only a head or so more taller then she was.

The young man in front of her tried to keep his serious figure. What did she just do? Did this girl ask him to lie for her? His eyebrows narrowed themselves even more at the thought. He never lied, not even for Saya, and now he was asked, pretty politely though, to lie for someone he did not knew for more then a day. He opened his mouth to tell her it was impossible and eventually carry her inside with or without her will, but then Nicole slapped her palms together as if she was praying and burst out loud;

"Please? I swear this is really important. I will be back before anyone else would notice."

The young man gulped the excess of saliva in his mouth. She sounded as if she was begging her father to let her out. This situation put Hagi in a rather delicate position. She was just a child; it wouldn't be wise if he was going to lie for her while she went hell knew where. And judging from her clothes and make-up… Hagi mentally shook his head. From what he noticed in her behavior in the park and when she came in his room, she didn't seem the type to sell herself for money. Every single gesture she made, indicated a very proud person, not a slut.

The chevalier sighed barely noticeable.

"If this is as important as you say, then I shall lie for you."

Nicole's lips curved into a grin as she heard him talk. This meant she was free to go? The girl felt like jumping two feet into the air.

"But I will ask you to keep your promise. If you will not come back before sunrise, I shall announce Gray of your absence."

"I swear with all my being." The girl crossed her chest with her index finger as another smile was planted on her lips. Without any kind of warning, the girl jumped towards Hagi and wrapped her arms around his muscular torso, hugging him tight.

His eyes widen in surprise. This was something he would never expect, especially from a girl such as Nicole. But he had to admit, this was the first hug he received in a long time. As far as he remembered, it was back at Joel's mansion when he and Saya hugged for the last time. It was in the morning of the day when he became a chevalier. Inwardly, he rose his arms as well, and he intended to place them on her shoulders but before he had the chance, the girl pulled away quickly and returned to the scooter once more, leaving him with his hands up in the air.

Nicole didn't knew why she hugged him. She had her moments in which she didn't really thought of her actions and just acted like she felt it was was right. She didn't remained on her position to see Hagi's expression, but she was sure he wasn't the kind of person who would get mad if he was hugged without warning. Taking the motor outside, she sat down on it and fixed her leather gloves on her hands. After this, the teen just digged the key so it would make contact and switched it clock wise. A huge grin lighted up her lips as she heard the motor running. "Yes!" Nicole hissed as she punched the air. Turning her head towards the garage again she saw Hagi standing right where she left him, watching her with his normal blank stare. She smiled as another thought ran through her mind.

Leaving the engine to run, she got up from the seat and ran towards the young man, and as she got closer to him, she quickly planted a smooched kiss on his cheek. It happened so fast, in the next second she was already three feet away from him, leaving the chevalier with a slight confusion written in his eyes. Hagi did not move at all, he remained in the same position, only his head lowered itself a little as her lips made contact with his skin. Other then this, he just watched her as she planted herself on the seat once again, this time covering her head as well, with a half-helmet which had a pair of glasses attached to it. It was oblivious that too belonged to Kai.

"Hey!" his attention was drawn by her strident voice. Hagi had to admit it; he didn't really wanted to hear her sing... she continued to speak;

"If it proves to be safe I'll try to bring you too next time, ok? Take care!"

With that she was gone leaving behind only the noise of the old scooter and the dust the spinning wheels caused on the road. Still in his position, the chevalier watched her until she went out of his sight. Only after this, he turned around to enter the house, the exact same way he went out; through the window. This orphan surely had something curious. Hagi decided it would be wise if he kept an eye on her, of course without her noticing it. As he got again inside his room, his eyes landed on the sleeping figure of Saya. He walked over to her and brushed her bangs out of her face before leaning again on a wall in deep thought, as he always done.

But only after several minutes, his eyes narrowed themselves again. He realized something; Nicole's last words before she left. What did she meant by "If it proves to be safe?"…

TO BE CONTINUED…

* * *

A/N: Ok, my hands hurt...long chapter, and still no real fun.... ARGH! i have so much more in mind!!! I wanna type it faster!!! T.T anyways, i want to apologiaze if i made Hagi ooc, but i tried to keep it as ...he normaly is ^^() oh and just to make it clrea, Nicole 'disguised' herself into a ghothic chick. This really isnt her normal style. Review please! Oh, and if you have an idea how i could improve this story, please yell me, ok? I will make sure to give you credit! ^o^ see you around!


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter VIII – Whoever brings the night

The road to London was as quite as the night allowed it to be. The wind blew softly and some lost birds flew as well towards the forest area. Not one car disturbed the calmness of this view. It was stoic, natural and almost as if it was stolen from a painting which belonged to a very talented artist. Which person could've been so ignorant, so selfish and so stupid to disturb this imagine?

_Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang._

Of course, that person would be Nicole…

She stopped her scooter only a few minutes ago and parked it careless besides the road, near a wooden telephone pillar. It seemed she was rather busy…

_Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang._

…banging her head in the pillar? Without her helmet on? Yes, she did.

"Idiot… idiot… idiot… idiot…"

The banging was rhythmic along with her monotone voice. It was the girls punishment on her earlier action. How in the world could've she been so damn stupid and act so childish?! In front of that guy, Hagi?! She felt like slapping- no punching herself, but that would've consume too much energy, energy she wasn't ready to use. For the moment, this pillar was good enough to bang her head in.

This monotone action stopped with a louder bang and an almost yelled "idiot", which was unavoidable followed by an "ouch". The girl remained with her head pinned by the pillar with a pissed look on her face. Only when she remembered the second she jumped and hugged him her cheeks flushed a slight shade of pink. Not to mention, they turned red when she remembered the kiss. It was really out of character for her… 'Maybe the clothes are the ones to blame…" she tried to convince herself, but come on; blame the clothes? Why didn't she blame then the couch for her missing homework and the cooker for her headache? Yep, she was a genius…

* * *

Back at the orphanage, everything remained exactly as it was at Nicole's leaving. The rooms and halls were silent and everyone slept the night away. Almost everyone that is. In his and Saya's room, Hagi slowly made himself way inside the bathroom. It seemed one of the packs of blood meant for Saya wasn't sealed perfectly. The chevalier found this when he started to arrange things around the room. Almost half of that package was spilled on his dark gray coat, and now it required a proper cleaning. Thus him in the bathroom. The young man took off his coat and held it under a jet of cold water, in the sink, before letting it to dry on the edge of the bathtub.

The wet coat was hanging now lazily as the drops of water were dripping on the cold grit stone which covered the floor. Hagi, whom was wearing his white buttoned up shirt now, was had his arms pinned on the sides of the sink and left his whole body weight to be supported like this. His eyes watched as the water went down the pipes along with the excess of blood from his coat. In the silence of the bathroom, he head the dripping of the water so loud, his eyes slightly narrowed at the sound. It was so monotone and rhythmic, it could've drove a stressed man insane. Good thing his mind was clear and logic as it had always been.

Or was that so?...

The truth was his mind was concentrated only on one single thought; the one of the new orphan, Nicole. There were several things he did not understood, most of them were connected to their last one-on-one accidental meeting in the garage. When he stared in her eyes back there, he wasn't certain what he saw in them. Hope, disappointment and even sadness were mixed as she spoke, as she begged him for his cooperation. And after this, her eyes shone with gladness, excitement and even happiness. The girl fell so quickly from an extreme to the other, it made Hagi think she was emotionally unstable. This kind of 'disorder' appeared only when the person went through a rather hard time in his or her life. But did this child suffered before?

Hagi rose his head and stared for a few minutes at his own reflection. The experiences he had been through in the past century didn't seem to leave him any kind of marks, but he surely suffered a lot of torture and pain through the years. But his pain was only physical, and because of this he learned how to control his feeling and how to hide his emotion, mostly because of Saya. His queen never forgave herself for turning him into a chiropteran, so showing her his pain wouldn't helped at all. He was the man he saw in the mirror because of his long life's experience, and that was the blessing and the curse he had to carry with him for the rest of his existence.

But her? What about Nicole?

The person he had saw was so puzzled about everything, so confused about what she felt and when she felt, it truly brought a slight wave of sadness to Hagi. What she suffered was also a torture, but it wasn't physical it was spiritual. Standing there and thinking so deeply about these things, the man realized that it was true, she never had a motherly or fatherly figure in her life to take an example from. Or maybe if she had, a mother or a father, it wasn't the loving and gentle picture someone would imagine, but a brutally confusing figure which mislead Nicole as well. The only thing she had left, was to take parts of other person's personality features and simply add her to her own, creating the person she was today. It was no wonder now why she went from sadness and desperation to anxiety and anger, like the girl done when she ran in his room after her fight with Kai and missed her room, entering his own. Yes, he understood now why she was so happy when she was confirmed that he would lie for her this time in order for Nicole to sneak out unnoticed by anyone else.

But still, it was a bitter-sweet pleasure to finally understand this aspect of the girl. Hagi sighed deeply as he went into a standing position and leaned himself on the wall. He felt its coolness a lot better now, because his shirt was really thin material. But it didn't bother the man; he remained like this, eyes closed and arms hanging lazily by the sides of his body. On his tall forehead a small wrinkle appeared resulted from his concentration on his thoughts. Also, his teeth clenched inside his mouth, as Hagi realized something important. It was a mistake; he should had let her leave the house. With such a volcanic and confused personality, with such a stressed mind who knows in what mess she would've get herself into. Not to mention, her words 'if it proves to be safe' intrigued him the most. No, he done it wrong, he acted like a fool, he lied for her.

A cold hand slowly rose itself until it reached the young man's forehead. For the first time that night, he began to worry. If something bad happened to her, it would be his fault only…

* * *

London was a quite city at night. As she walked the main, pushing the scooter along with her, Nicole silently examined the surroundings. Only the lamps were lighting up the street, for every single house was dark inside, meaning its occupants were sleeping. For someone who didn't knew how to look, it seemed this town was a dead town, but for someone with 'experience', who knew where and how to look, the night was alive and ready to party. Nicole's eyes flushed at the corners as she saw how the gangs and crews were gathering. She knew the process very well; they met in separated places, one by one and never all in the same place. The second in 'command' was the first who came out and went to the fixed places where their met one of their partners. The process repeated itself, as they moved from place to place, from street to street until she met their leader, who joined the crew the last, and only after this they went in the underworlds. The girl had to admit, she was rather surprised it was the very same procedure here as it was back in NY. Rumors went around quite fast…

But what did surprise her was how the crews and their members looked like. Back home, they each had their own style, which was pretty simple, with baggy clothes, beanies and headbands, to allow them to move around better, but here it was very different. The people were dressed in dark colors and in the light of the lamps it showed out most of their clothing was made out of leather. Both girls and guys had really complicated haircuts, which it was clear that they needed at least an hour to fix, and despite the simple and clean style she was used with, these dancers had a lot of colorful and maybe heavy accessories. Were they even going to dance with those, or just stand and be careful not to make any sudden moves and ruin their haircut?

Her eyes blinked when for just a mere moment, another person's eyes were pinned on her. Closing her slightly dropped mouth, Nicole returned the look with a glare, making the person to nod and mind his own business. Even the signs were the same…

She shook her head a little. It was time for her to find her way around. Hopping in the scooter's seat and fixing the helmet on her head, the girl drove on the main street until she reached a great cross-road. She stopped and looked around a little. In front of her was the famous Big Ben clock tower, and around it were several smaller streets which weren't even lit up properly. She had to admit, the girl always thought this place would be a little more..impressive? Now that she saw it, it kinda disappointed her because it was pretty ordinary. She was expecting a lot more. Singing and pinning her head in her fist, the girl was deep in thought. The clock showed already 11:42 and if the rules was the same here too, after midnight they wont allow anyone else to enter the underworlds.

Nicole closed her eyes and tilted her head to a side. Well, she tried, if she wasn't going to get any action that night… she will just to back and pretend it never happened. Turning her head even more at a side, she opened her eyes again to see the ad posted on a bus station's glass walls. 'Condoms…' she thought as she saw the famous brand Durex written above it. The message it came with the ad, 'Wanna see Big Ben?', made her chuckle slightly. 'What a name they found to call a dick…' she thought to herself as her eyes rose themselves again to the enormous clock tower.

Wait a minute. Dick. Big Ben. London. Durex.

Nicole's eyes widen in surprise as she realized something. Jumping off of her seat, her eyes remained on the tower. Big Ben was 'the great dick of London'! as soon as she said that mentally, she burst out laughing. Well, that surely was a really original way to announce the location!

As soon as she calmed herself down, the girl wiped a tear from the corner of her eyes, careful enough not to damage her black panda-eyes make up, she grabbed the handles of the scooter and rushed towards the streets behind the great tower. She wasn't going to loose any more time. She knew those lights did not came from any lamps, and other punks and Goths were aiming the same way as she was. It was now or never…

* * *

Back in NY, they called their places the 'underworlds' because they really were forgotten places, such as old schools, underground parking lots, storehouses, and places that were abandoned, and where people feared to enter. The music was produced by great stereo boxes, and the lights were simple, meant only to make the dancers look better to the public. Most of the times, they were the lights of the cars parked in the area. The music was mixed by the same DJ each time, the one they called Smiles, and the atmosphere was familiar since a few people participated and everybody came to dance and enjoy themselves. It was just like they were all one big united family.

But the 'undergrounds' in London were nothing like that.

The place where the battles were held turned out to be a really big storehouse, which was turned in the biggest night club she had ever seen. There were no windows, only the front door, and the walls were painted in a dark blue-ish color. The girl didn't manage to identify it precisely, mostly because of the blinding clubbing lights. The ring where they danced was simple and it occupied most of the area. Also, the decoration reminded her of London and its anarchy thing. The music wasn't played by a DJ, and it was mostly rock music, and sometimes a rough rap, not freestyle as it was back home.

Nicole had to admit, she was pretty disappointed. The only thing that really impressed her were the dance crews. They had some pretty nice moves, and they really made a nice remix between the rock music they listened and the break dancing moves. Other then this, it wasn't really her cup of tea. She was an open minded person, she accepted all kinds of music, and there were a few types of rock she really enjoyed, but still, if she wasn't dressed like that, there was no way she could've been allowed inside, with or without the invite on her phone.

Nicole sat at the bar, as her fingers played with the straws on the table. The battles were over, and everybody was dancing free on the ring and pretty much wherever they caught a free spot. Just like they done in a normal club, only on hardcore music. Her chin was pinned on her fist as her eyes stared blankly somewhere behind the bar table. She just waited for something interesting to happen before she would go out again and go back at Gray's. She wondered if Hagi really kept his promise and keep his lips sewed together about her missing. 'Hagi…?' she thought as her eyes blinked at his name. Her mind painted a picture of him when he first came to open her the door, at her arrival, in the park, when she rushed inside his room and at the garage, only a few hours earlier.

She didn't knew why, but she wondered deeply about his right hand. Maybe he had an accident which resulted a scar or something, and it was so nasty he wanted to keep it hidden, right? It did made sense, but still, the girl wasn't fully convinced on this theory. Maybe it was nothing important at all. After all, it was his own business, right? Right?!

Her head dropped and made a rough contact with the wood of the bar table. The impact was loud enough to cause the liquid inside a person's glass to shake a little, making several ripples. Its owner grabbed the glass and turned his head towards where he heard (or better said felt) the thud. 'A new girl…?' he asked himself as he ran his fingers through his jet black colored hair, grabbing one green colored streak in the process and wrapping it around his fingers a couple of times before letting it go.

Nicole moaned her time away as she kept the contact between her face and the table. If anyone would've saw her, their would've guess she was too drunk to even think, but the truth was she was bored. Bored and tired… Maybe it was time after all to go home; this wasn't her kind of place anyways… Little did she knew behind the tall table, a certain bartender was ready to surprise her in a rather unusual way. Rising himself slowly and careful enough not to be noticed, the black haired guy went close to her ear and called quite loud "Pizza time!"

"Whaaa!" the girl shouted as she quickly rose her head and scanned the area. What the heck happened?! It was only after she heard a male's laughter when she figured out she was the victim of a prank. Narrowing her eyes, she shot him a glare. "What the fuck were you thinking!?" she shouted in his face as she hit the table with her fist. The guy just continued to laugh and several seconds later he wiped away a tear from the corner of his eye.

"Sorry pal, but that was waaaay to appealing...!" he told her as he kept a wide grin planted on his face. When she inspected him closer, Nicole could've sworn he had a joker-face…

"Oh yeah? How appealing does it sound to suddenly become unable to reproduce?" she asked him as her eyes kept digging holes through his body. She surely was pissed, but he done nothing but put his hands in front of his face, defensively.

"Chill down, ok? How about a cold one? My treat?" he offered as he pulled from behind him two green glass bottles, pushing one in front of Nicole. The girl took it and shot it a curious look. All those lights flushing away made reading impossible, so the only method in checking out its contents was, obliviously, tasting it. After a full gulp she pulled the bottle away from her lips. Citrus flavored tequila? Or was it beer? This was a woman's drink, since it had a really sweet taste. She was rather surprised when she had saw him also drinking the very same liquid. She always thought guys hated sweet drinks.

"Well…" she started as she gathered her words. "I never refuse a cold one, especially if someone else's paying." Nicole gave him a slight smirk as she kept a hint of a glare in her eyes. She wasn't surprised when she saw him staring back. He had his torso weight supported only by his crossed arms, which were pinned on the table. Also, a small smile curved his lips as he noticed her features.

"The name's Jordan." He simply told her as his smile got wider. Inwardly, she had returned him slime with one of her own, as she placed the bottle to her lips again and took another two big sips from it. This proved to be an interesting night after all…

TO BE CONTINUED…

A/N: So damn late! sorry, but i can't really say much now. Ok, from here it might get interesting. Jordan is the average good-looking flirt... and his new target is Nicole, but still, this is not an OC x OC so...just hope the next chapter will be here soon! I think it will be pretty cute ^^ Review pleaseee!


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter IX – Not As Innocent As It Appears…

Hagi kept his eyes closed as he leaned against the wall, guarding Saya as he always done. His queen was sleeping, downstairs Monique was sleeping, in the other rooms, David, Kai and everyone else was sleeping. Only he remained sober. It was one of those moments in which the chevalier wished to drift away in his own dream word, as humans did, but he knew that was impossible. Not that he wasn't able to sleep, but as long as he was alive, he needed to be Saya's eyes and ears, to protect and be by her side forever and more. No, she was able to close eyes and let his mind to be carried away, far away, in a world known only by him, but he did not wanted to do that. Even more, he wanted to remain awake to be sure the orphan he lied for will keep for promise.

His eyes flushed open as they were pinned quickly on the clock which was hanged above the sleeping girl's bed. It showed there were exactly 20 minutes until 3;00 a.m., the time which was known by some people as Devil's hour. Hagi narrowed his eyes at the thought. From what he learned, people say at this hour bad things happed, for the evil demons from Hell are realized into the world of living, and make fun of the ones who did not sleep. Also, curses, spells and magic used to be performed at this hour a long time ago.

The young man closed his eyes once again. Just silly stories meant to make little children go to sleep earlier. For as long as he knew, nothing bad happened at this hour neither to him or Saya. Even more, he was turned into a chevalier at daytime, Riku's death and birth as a chiropteran happened in daytime, and every single bad thing that happened to then happened either in the light of the day, or at sunset, but never at 3;00am. Hagi sighed; maybe it was a good thing…

In the silence of the room, a loud noise, probably made by an engine was heard as it approached the farm. It ended with a loud banging noise, as if it hit a mass of metal, and this noise was heard from the garage. The male's eyes fluttered open. Nicole had returned…

Making his way in no time outside, of course using his inhuman speed and of course, jumping out the window, Hagi was surprised when he saw the fresh black tire prints made on the concrete road, and the way those ones went inside the garage. His eyebrow slightly rose. Didn't Nicole knew how to drive the scooter? Why did she use the breaks that harsh? As he inspected the area, he heard the sound of doors being opened and slammed closed. Peeking his head inside he saw as smoke rose from the hot scooter tires. It seemed she was unable to avoid a rough contact between the vehicle and a table full of tools. From the way the scooter was thrown, Hagi assumed she wanted to leave that place as soon as possible, and didn't bothered if someone would notice her using the back doors. Some doors opening and closing were heard.

Following her inside the house, Hagi entered through the back door, a lot more carefully then the girl. Hopefully Monique was too tired and her sleep was really deep to notice anything else around her, so Nicole passed her really quick. Passing her as well, he made himself way upstairs, and with the corner of his eye, he saw as the door to Nicole's room was left to hang slightly open. The chevalier's eyes narrowed themselves. Judging from what he saw until then, the orphan was the kind of person who would value her privacy more then anything. Letting her door open, allowing anyone to enter wasn't like her at all. What in the world was going on?

Hagi knocked a couple of times on her door, but he got no response. The only thing he heard was the sound of water being turn on, probably on the sick. Clenching his teeth inside his mouth, he opened the door and stepped firmly inside, but this time closing the door as silently as he could behind him. Her room was dark; it seemed she had no time in turning the lights on. The jacket she was wearing was thrown careless on the bed, along with the gloves, and her shoes were also thrown in two separated corners of her room, marking the hurry she was in while doing so. Also, the door to her bathroom was wide open, and despite the darkness in the main room, the lights were on there. Also, the water was running as well.

He should have let her be alone, and go in his room to guard Saya, as he always done, but there was something he was slightly worried about. It was the kind of feeling he hated the most; being suspicious that something wasn't right, when he wasn't obligated to take care of that thing. Why couldn't he just ignore Nicole and let her mind her own business? After all, his part of the deal was over. The rest was up to her. But still, he didn't knew why, but his wrapped hand reached for the handle and softly pushed the door open. After this, he stepped inside and his lips called her name.

"Nicole."

Why he done that? Hagi was dying to know why…

His thoughts were interrupted by the loud gasp of the girl. She turned around to face the intruder with wide eyes and shock written all over her face. But it wasn't only shock on her face. Hagi noticed that when he took a couple of steps closer to her.

"What the fuck are you doing here?!" she breathed out, as she held the edge of the sink tight. She tried to make a step towards him, but as soon as she let go of the sink, her body lost its balance and she ended up hitting her head and torso on the opposite wall of the small bathroom. She covered her face with one hand as the other touched the cold wall, in a vain attempt to regain her balance. She moaned as her head was still moving from side to side, as if she was really dizzy.

"Get out!" she shouted at him as she turned her back at him. "Leave me alone!"

Hagi was speechless. What in the world was wrong with her? She seemed sick for a reason or another, but why would she be sick after a simple ride out? It was oblivious the chevalier did not knew the way teens acted in the clubs, especially at night time, but that is another story to tell… The male took a few more steps towards the girl until her was able to touch her shoulder. Ironically, it was his bandaged hand which touched her.

"Nicole, are you alright?"

"I said to get out!" she called out in a rusty voice as she turned around quickly to slap him, but her action was cut out by Hagi, who had grabbed her hand with his other free hand. She gasped when she felt his grip, but did nothing because of the shock. She remained motionless, her eyes wide and pinned on his hand which grabbed her own. He took advantage of this and rose her by her chin with his right hand, to have a better look at her face. What he saw made him slightly gasp in shock…

In her eyes was written a great shock and fear at the same time. Her pupils were very dilated, to the point where it made her light brown eyes seem to be black, and the small and thin veins on her eyeballs were now crimson red and sore, as if they had been staring into a great light for a long time. Also, all the black make-up she tortured them with was now smudged all over her cheeks, probably with the back of her palms. But what truly scared him the most was hiding under her bangs, right on top of her right eye.

Moving his wrapped hand from her shoulder and to her face, Hagi wiped away the bangs in her face, revealing a fresh, red and purple bruise which covered her forehead, temple and a little of her cheek. As soon as he touched it, Nicole's grunts of pain were heard as she struggled a little.

"Take your hands off! Now!" she warned it as she tried to make him go away, but he did not move an inch. The girl didn't even notice the way his mouth dropped a little open, revealing his perfectly white teeth, or his slightly wide eyes.

Suddenly he let go of her, and because of her lack of balance, she fell backwards, on the toilet seat(which had the lid on). Nicole squeaked as she felt her butt making contact with the hard plastic. Her head dropped again, hitting the wall besides her as she began panting.

"What happened?" Hagi asked as he kept a solemn, but somehow angered figure. Nicole didn't even noticed that and let out another moan and grunt of pain.

"Just leave me alone! PLEASE!"

It was odd the way she managed to combine both a plead and a warning like she just did. But still, Hagi wasn't impressed. He kneeled down to get, getting at her face level. By this time, she dared and made eye contact, but the look in his eyes done nothing more but scare the girl, so she lowered her head to hide her shame. Hagi done nothing but rise her head by her chin again, forcing her to look at him.

"Are you drugged?" he asked, his voice sharp as a knife. The girl done nothing but sob a couple of times as she continued to breathe pretty hard. She blinked her eyes in a vein attempt to make the in-coming tears go away, but she failed miserable. "Tell me." He demanded again, but he did not finished his words properly when he got interrupter by the orphan.

"It was not my fault! Please understand!" Nicole snapped as several tears rolled down along with the excess of make-up on her face. Somehow Hagi was pleased to see that she was finally adopting a more cooperative mood, but still, seeing her cry brought a wave of sadness to his eyes. He spoke again, but this time his voice more soft and calm.

"Make me understand. Tell me, what happened to you?"

The girl before him couldn't help her emotions back anymore. She let the river from her eyes to flow without any denial at all, as she leaned closer to the man before her and wrapped her arms tight around his neck, digging her face in his shoulder, ignoring the pain from her bruise and her pride. She let out several sobs and gasps as she cried her pain and emotions away for several minutes.

"Nicole." The chevalier called the crying girl. It was one of those situation he didn't truly knew what his next move to be. His mind told him to push her away and continued to demand a clear answer from him, it told him to keep his calm attitude and not allow this girl to impress her with all her drama. But even he was shocked when his arms wrapped around her small torso and returned her the sad hug, doing as his heart told him to. "Calm down. Everything is fine.." Hagi allowed himself to close his eyes, only for a moment as he tried to take her pain away. Inwardly, his grip around her torso grew slightly tighter, and one of his hands made itself way to her head, and held it as she cried.

Nicole done nothing but sob as she cried her stress and pain out, hanged by the man's shoulders. Between her sobs and cry, he managed to heard her repeat 'not my fault' so many time, he lost count. Opening his eyes wide open, Hagi count help but clench his teeth inside his mouth. He was right after all, something bad had happened to her, and the fault was all him own. He shouldn't have let her out at all, he shouldn't have lied just to make her happy. But it seemed happy was the most inappropriate he could find at that moment. How could've he been so stupid and act so careless?!

In the silence of her room, only Nicole's cry was heard as she kept her face hidden in his shoulder. But Hagi had spoke back then only two words, which unfortunately she did not heard…

"Im sorry…"

TO BE CONTINUED…

* * *

A/N: I had a bit of a trouble updating this so.... lets just hope it will be ok everything. Its a bit of a ciffhanger, but...^^ it will keep thing interesting, right?

So, Nicole arrived back at the farm, drugged, dizzy, sad and bruised! What in the world happened at the club?! Did that guy jordan had anything to do with it? Next chappie will answer to all questions ^^


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter X – Just You And Me

It seems three in the morning is the hour of the devil for some of them. The clock's hands pointed solemnly this exact hour for only one fateful moment, before the ticks started again, as the seconds passed by. How ironic though… it seemed as if an eternity had passed when she was in his embrace, but then again, time had different rules inside her mind. Nicole was sure of this, because she thought everything went by fast. Too fast for that matter. Ever since she left until Hagi entered her room. The only moment she thought lasted forever was when his arms wrapped around her thin and boney body. She lost herself to her tears so deeply, she didn't even knew when he carried her to the bed and put her down. But she remembered she stopped crying a few minutes after this, and she calmed down incredibly fast. But she wasn't calm. No, it was the wrong word. She was… shocked and frightened when she realized that he, Hagi came and helped her out. Nicole never expected such a thing from him… But it had already happened.

In the following minutes the chevalier helped the girl in what seemed to be a rather normal before sleeping ritual. She stripped of her dark clothes, of course without him seeing her, and jumped into fresh, baggy ones, Hagi helped her brush her messy hair and he even wiped away all the black make up her face was painted with. Everything was done by the two of them in complete silence, probably their breaths being the only ones which were heard. But it didn't seem to bother neither of them. She just kept her gaze down, as the male stored her clothes, threw away the tissues used for her face and so on, just like a normal servant would do for his mistress. Even if she wasn't completely lucid, Nicole kept wondering why did he helped her like this. After all the words she addressed him, after the favor he had already done for her, it made no sense. While in deep thought, the girl drawled up into a ball, bringing her knees to her chest and hugging the tight, as she sat on the edge of the bed. Hagi noticed this as he walked back into her room from the bathroom with a white towel in his hand. It wasn't even the need to question her what was on her mind. Only by looking at her he knew the answer.

"I think of you as my responsibility." He spoke soft and calm, in a voice loud enough only for her to hear. Nicole's eyes snapped open as she heard this. Responsibility? In other circumstances she would've felt insulted by this remark. Wasn't she responsible enough to take care of herself so she needed his assistance? It wasn't that the problem, because Hagi knew that her life was none of his business, but also Nicole wanted to feel him around her. Not because she wanted to be take care of, it was that, in those moments, frustration made her to beg for someone's company. Or better said, for his company. For Hagi, it was a total different story. It wasn't just only he didn't wanted to risk and leave her alone. In this state, she would've end up doing bad thing he didn't even wanted to think of. And the male knew he wasn't going to live a clear life with such things written on his conscience. But there was also another thing that kept him by her side, and that thing was guilt. Inside him, he knew that if he did not let her leave earlier that night, she would've slept the night away, safe and sound.

Hagi kneeled down, in front of Nicole as he wiped a few locks of her brown hair from her face, exposing her bruise even more. He then started to press the white towel against the wounded area, fact which made the girl jump a little and hiss as well at the contact. It seemed the texture was soaked in cold water. Hagi grabbed her opposite shoulder and held her from moving any further.

"I need to clean it."

Gulping the excess of saliva in her mouth and clenching her teeth tight, Nicole stopped moving as the chevalier continued his work. Shyly, she rose her gaze to meet his own. At its cold and emotionless look, she quickly lowered her gaze once more. Even if she knew it was pointless to ask again she done it anyway.

"Why are you helping me?"

Hagi stopped for a second from cleaning her bruise as he let out a small almost inaudible grunt.

"I told you already."

"You were lying."

Her words became sharp and cold despite the low voice she was using to speak. It was oblivious that there still was a trace of the proud Nicole inside this partially damaged body. Even if he could've used this opportunity to respond and feed her ego, he choose to remain silent, making her to drop her gaze once more. Instead, Hagi waited for a few more minutes to pass before he replied her.

"There…" he removed the towel from her face, revealing a less angry bruise. But still he wasn't done. "Where do you keep your make up?"

With a short move of her head, she pointed towards the drawers of her bed table which Hagi had opened and took from its insides a small black and gray purse. Without any words whatsoever he took the bottle of foundation from it and with the help of a small brush he applied it on her forehead and temple.

"It is better if this will remain hidden." He told her as she just nodded a couple of times.

Hagi stared at her face as he masked the 'evidence' of her latest action. He didn't knew what she felt in those moments. It could've been still the shock she had earlier, or maybe the fear or the shyness or it could've been nothing at all. Just the empty body of a puppet with no soul, no mind and no dreams, but Hagi shook the thought away quickly. Something defiantly was on her mind. It was expectance. Nicole was expecting something from him and from what he noticed she wasn't ready to face it, but then again, he couldn't wait any longer as well. He had to do it and he had to do it now.

"What happened to you?"

Nicole's eyes immediately rose themselves and pinned on his own. This was what she was expecting, and it seemed it had came a little too soon. The girl was thinking of how she should've choose her words to explain what happened that night, since it still left her confused. This was the first time something like that ever happened to her… Bitting her bottom lip, she had closed her eyes and exhaled deeply. Hagi's eyebrow rose as his head leaned only a few millimeters towards her. He was ready to listen. Tilting her head to a side, Nicole finally showed a little emotion in her eyes as well as in her voice.

"It was not my fault. I didnt knew that… It wasn't my fault!"

* * *

-Flashback-

The night was getting hotter by the minute between the walls of the night club known as 'The Great Dick of London." The music was loud, the drinks were flowing like rivers and the ring was on fire. Along with the dancers in the ring Nicole was Jordan were enjoying the single song she had recognized that night. It was impossible for anyone not to remember a song with such vulgar lyrics after all. But, even if this was so, Jordan needed to pay two more drinks to get her to dance. Only after she finished the last one, she grabbed the boy by his collar and dragged him to the ring. Just in time since the song had started.

"Everything's been said before  
There's nothing left to say anymore  
When it's all the same  
You can ask for it by name"

The beginning was calm and slow as the singer almost whispered the lyrics and the music made Nicole think of a post apocalyptic imagine of a town or maybe a really hardcore underground punk world. Still, she enjoyed every minute of it, just like her partner. Since it wasn't a dance they done for a contest, she allowed herself to freestyle like everyone else did on the dance floor. Her hips moved from side to side along with the rest of her body fluidly, only her shoulders made quick moves as if she had spasms on the beats. Jordan just watched her as he moved less around her. Even if she was enjoying her time, and gave him constant smile, he didn't dare touch her more then just hips. The song continued.

"Babble-Babble- Bitch- Bitch  
Rebel- Rebel-Party- Party  
Sex- sex- sex- don't forget the violence  
Blah -blah - blah  
Got your lovey-dovey sad and lonely  
Stick your stupid slogan in  
Everybody sing along"

And that was what she done. Nicole mouthed the words along with the singer as her eyes were pinned on Jordan's. By this time only she was smiling as her eyes were staring into a blank point somewhere outside the small space between them. Her partner dared and inched his head closed, gluing their foreheads one into the other and moving his hands another inch higher. The bridge repeated itself as she turned her head towards him again. The song was visibly more violent then when it started, so she adapted her moves to the melody, and so did Jordan. Her hands moved higher as well on her own body until they grabbed Jordan's palms.

"Are you motherfuckers ready for the new shit?  
Stand up and admit it, tomorrow's never coming  
This is the new shit  
Stand up and admit it  
Do we need it? NO!  
Do we want it? YEAH!  
This is the new shit  
Stand up and admit it"

The chorus pierced everyone's ears as a thunder as loud industrial tunes filled the whole room. The few ones who had heard the song before were the ones who acted the most fitting, such as Nicole. As soon as she heard the third word, the girl took her partner's hands off of her, almost throwing them as if their were made of rubber and stepped a couple of feet backwards making the pace between them open up. Singing along, Nicole moved her body in her own way, a mix between pogo and her own dancing style, moving so fast and randomly, spinning her head and yelling with the music, it made the teen feel really dizzy. But she didn't care too much for that. Jordan seemed pretty ok himself, so why do bother?

"Babble, Babble, Bitch, Bitch  
Rebel, Rebel, Party, Party  
Sex, sex, sex, don't forget the violence  
Blah, blah, blah  
Got your lovey-dovey sad and lonely  
Stick your stupid slogan in  
Everybody sing along  
Everything's been said before  
There's nothing left to say anymore  
When it's all the same  
You can ask for it by name"

Nicole's dance suddenly didn't felt as right as she felt it before. The moves weren't done by her body anymore, but it seemed as if the lack of balance made her body move around with less of its original style, but more as if she was ready to fall on her butt at any minute. Tripping over someone's foot, the girl found herself free falling but luckily Jordan was there to grab her.

"Whoa, princess, wha' happened to ya?"

Nicole rose her head lazily to see him better, but she didn't got nothing more but a blurry imagine. It was odd…she didn't remembered the lights being so bright… she rose her head and rubbed her head closing her eyes in the process.

"I dunno man.. I guess I'm just a little tired or something…"

"Come with me."

With this the black haired guy helped the girl on her feet and began dragging her away from the ring, somewhere behind the bar…

* * *

-end of flashback-

Inside her room, Nicole remained with her head lowered as she stopped for a few minutes from telling what happened that night. Besides her, Hagi was listening closely, eyes pinned on her own. The male noticed the water in her eyes. He understood that from this point on the story went wrong. Quickly grabbing a small tissue, he reached to wipe her tears away, but his hand was almost slapped away by the girl.

"Don't." she said in a low voice as she let out a small sob. Hagi's eyes narrowed a little at her warning, but he retrieved his hand back. The girl wiped away her tears with the back of her palm and rose her head, staring blackly at the walls. Hagi was the first to speak;

"What happened next?"

Nicole opened her mouth, as if she wanted to tell him the rest, but she didn't manage to let out nothing but a sigh. She closed her eyes again and rubbed a little her temple as if she wanted to remember better.

"He began… to touch me."

* * *

-Flashback-

Behind the bar, there was a small room, which lead in a little storeroom full of bottles and packages. The room any bigger then her room back at the farm, and it wasn't well lit. The only difference was that the music wasn't heard so loud in there and a normal conversation between two persons was a reasonable thing to do.

"Jeez…" Nicole moaned as she held into Jordan tight. "Dude, my head hurts like hell…" she complained as Jordan didn't quite seemed to notice that. He just dragged her until both of them were in the middle of the room. He stopped and turned around facing the girl and also closing in the space between the two of them. Nicole blinked her eyes a few times, but not even here her vision wasn't any better. Inwardly she slammed her head on his shoulder bone. "crap…" she muttered as she felt her balance was leaving her again.

Jordan just help her even closer as his grip on her arms grew.

-end of flashback-

* * *

"…and then he simply rose my chin."

Nicole's hands were rubbing one against the other as the girl grew more nervous by the minute. She kept trying to keep her sobs inside her throat, but every once in a while they came out quick and panicked. Hagi kept his eyes pinned on her as his teeth clenched inside his mouth tight. By the way she talked and acted, he already figured out what happened to the orphan, but he did not stopped her from her speech. He didn't knew why, but maybe his curiosity or maybe his nervousness stopped him from speaking out and calming her down.

"i-i…I didn't knew what was going on. I was too dizzy. I asked him, 'what the hell is going on?', but he said…"

* * *

-flashback-

"Don't worry, its going to be fun… I promise…" Jordan's voice filled the room. It was smooth and calm, but it brought a wave of nervousness to Nicole. She didn't knew why, but she had a bad feeling about this. Her eyes narrowed as she wanted to slap his palms away.

"Like hell you are gonn-"

A pair of lips blocked her for saying anything more. By this time, her eyes snapped wide. Did he done what she thought he done? Nicole's eyes started to roll in their sockets moving to every single direction possible until they finally stopped on Jordan's figure. He was so damn close to her, she even felt the strong smell of cigar smell and alcohol not only on his clothes, but also in his skin! Not to mention, his lips were dry and rough, it made her wonder if her own lips were going to bleed after this brutal excuse of a kiss. When his wet tongue traced her lips the girl shut her eyes tight and hit his head with her own, confusing the guy for a second and making him go a little further.

"What the hell did you put in my drink, you son of a bitch!" she shouted in his face as she tried to make herself way out of his disgusting embrace. Jordan moaned in pain, but he acted quickly and grabbed her by her hair.

"It was something that would've made you feel better, so just stay still!"

* * *

-end of flashback-

"He grabbed my hair, tight…" Nicole continued as inwardly her hand rose and patted a little the back of her neck. She wouldn't be so surprised if she had there too a bruise, but luckily it was hidden pretty well behind her messy hair. "I struggle even more.. I think that is way it hurts like hell even now." Her hand moved from the back of her neck towards her forehead rubbing it slightly. She did not believed her own words…

"But I managed to kick him where it hurts…And after that…"

* * *

-flashback-

Jordan moaned in pain as he grabbed his lower regions. It seems Nicole really had hit him where it hurts, but that did not stopped him. Leaning against the wall, she tried to make herself way out the door but ended up grabbing a box of empty bottles. She didn't paid too much attention to that, those surely were nothing more then empty beers. Just in time to feel His tight grip gainst her arm again. She gasped as she turned to face him.

Big mistake.

"You bitch!" he shouted in her face as his other hand made contact with her face. It wouldn't have been such a great deal of pain if his fingers were closed up in a fist. The hit made her spin around on her heels, ending up on the box she earlier grabbed. Nicole was already sobbing slightly. Jordan was coming closer. This was really fucked up.

* * *

-end of flashback-

"I told you, it was not my fault!"

It was amazing. Just amazing. He thought of so many scenarios, so many theories, but Hagi had to admit to himself. This was truly something he did not expected at all. His mouth dropped slightly open, as his eyes dropped on the floor as well. A big knot formed in his throat. Weak. Vulnerable. Guilty. But most of all, useless. Hagi felt them all. Behind the walls of everything

he knew was a whole new world he knew nothing about. A world where girls like Nicole wonder the streets at night and get raped. Where chaotic music plays and where alcohol is drank instead of water. A hidden, dark world where Nicole just returned from, and Hagi was sure this was not the first time when she dared to enter it.

"And after that…"

His eyes rose once more. Was there even more to tell?

"…I remember another voice, yelling at us." Nicole made a pause as she rose her hand and wiped away her tears, careful enough not to damage all the make up on her bruise. "It was just what needed to get the hell outta there. I don't know how the fuck I got myself here safe…"

Saved. She saved herself from a horrible experience.

All the air he kept in his lungs was freed along with all his tense muscles. But this time Hagi's face ran from shock and guilt to anger and fury. He didn't need to hear anything more. It was already too much. As if he assisted besides her like a dark shadow hidden in a corner, he still couldn't help but feel it was his own fault. Throwing one of his eyes in her direction he saw the girl as she simply gulped away her sobs and tried to keep a serious face. After all of this, she still tried to look strong? Just like, this was nothing to her? She did. How stupid of her, but then again, Nicole still had the ashes of her pride which she now kept as close as she could to her damaged heart and mind. Hagi did not want to take that away from her as well. It was no use to try and sound like a parent or a big brother, she knew she made a mistake and there was no need for anyone to remind her that.

"It is late."

For the first time he spoke as he allowed a grunt to escape his throat. Nicole uselessly turned her head to face him, because he was already standing. Too late? How late could it be? Almost 3 in the morning. She saw it when the clock made a small click. He heard it as well, but he said nothing, just spun on his heels and quickly pushed the orphan by her shoulder, forcing her to lay backwards. Her eyes simply got a little wide as the redness around them made itself even clearer. No, she was not drugged. Or, if she was, they weren't so strong to keep her from being sober. Then why did that man act so…kind with her? A small gasp escaped her lips when her head hit the pillow.

"Go to sleep."

What was that, a request or an order? Or maybe an assurance? Nicole could not define it, but it was surely something Hagi tried to say as serious as possible, which he had actually done. The girl had to admit, it was something new to see someone so calm; especially after she just told him what she been through. This man was a walking wonder, filled with mystery, and why not, it awoken the brown haired girl a wicked interest, a thirst of knowing more about him. Her mind gone wild with thoughts mostly about her listening to his life tale just like he done now with her, but something just did not belonged to this puzzle… Which could that be? Herself and himself only. She was just to different, and he was the same. But still, it was human-like to aspire for things which seemed impossible, so her thoughts weren't so wrong after all. The girl's eyes half closed themselves as Nicole allowed her body to relax in the cool sheets. She even let out a yawn and placed a palm over her forehead. How awkward, she did not felt this tired while she told Hagi what she just told him, but she decided to ignore this minor aspect.

Unlike Nicole, Hagi had his own thoughts to deal with. Or better said, he had his thoughts to reject and ignore, but those just remained into his mind, like a dammed parasite! And what other thoughts to have other then the ones she gave him; defeat, shame, but the most torturing one was his guilt. He found more then just ordinary to cover her underweight body with the white, old sheet and watch as it modeled itself over the girl. Inwardly, she grabbed into it, and brought it up until it covered her up to her chin.

"Go to sleep" the man repeated before shooting her one last look, directly in the eyes and then make himself way towards the door. His steps were slow and heavy, but only seconds later, the metal handle or the door lowered itself under the pressure Hagi applied on it, and the door opened. But the sound made Nicole widen his eyes even more, and almost hop in a sitting position on her bed.

"Wait!"

Hagi turned his head only until he could have seen the orphan with the corner of his eyes. Much to his wonder, wonder which he had obviously hid, the brown haired one had a neutral expression on her face. He did not used words, only a slight nod was enough to let her know she was free to tell him what happened. And Nicky understood the message pretty clear. "Thanks, you know…" she muttered with only half of mouth. "Will you shut up again, for me?"

It was the second time, in less the 24 hours when the very same person had asked the cold and distant chevalier to lie for her. Even if it wasn't such a great thing to request, Hagi couldn't help but re-memorize in a flash of a second what happened only a few hours earlier, and think of a similar scenario if he would lie again. The man lowered his head and turned his gaze from her. To lie, or not to lie? That was the question… How ironic, but what she requested after all, was not a lie, but silence, and silence was the thing he was best at. Then, why refuse her? After all, Hagi had to admit, inside of his he felt what was left of his humanity calculating what would be his win out of this deal, but no. He was a man of honor. He done things because it was right. But was it right to keep silence because of someone he just met? With a sigh, the man opened his mouth to speak;

"Your ride out, our talk, everything. Did not happened at all. You fell off your bed and hit your forehead, thus you did not had a good night sleep." Hagi's head spun a little until he was facing the girl again. "Understood?"

Amazing.

Nicole felt as if her very heart was about to pop out of her chest when he spoke. Yet again, he was to lie for her. Well, to keep silence. What else could she do other then simply express her feelings by grinning hugely and hugging herself. Nicole had to use al her strength to keep a squeal inside her throat. Instead, she simply muttered a "Thank you." Just like a child would say when she just received a big bag of candy. Hopping again under she sheets, she placed her head and on the pillow, this time facing the pale man. Right before he had the chance to open the door she remembered something she simply let out, without thinking too much.

"Next time, you will have to show me your wrapped hand, mmk?"

Ironic.

Hagi froze when he heard her. For a second he lost his lucidity and wanted to yell at her that it was impossible, but he remained silent and survived the moment of outrage. What he done? He grunted, just barely audible and opened the door, the exited. Hopefully, the girl did not heard the slight grunt from his throat, but, than again, he did not heard her when she muttered "Good night…"

TO BE CONTINUED...

* * *

A/N: Wazzup! Sorry it took so long to upload!!! this chapter just didnt wanted to come out...and i had a shit load of trouble at home...sorry sorry sorry sorry! Promise i will try and upload again as soon as possible! Hope people are still reading this... Anyways, about this chapter; there are ups and downs here, and i am not that pleased with it. I tried to make a flashback/present moment alternation, for the drama thing, but i dont think i got it right. If anyone has any advice for me, please tell me! So i could make better future storied :3

Anyways, this will be it. Cliffhanger once more. but at least we found out how the heck she got her bruise right? I dont really know what next chappie will be about, so feel free to say your ideas! You will recieve credit for them, promisee ^^

That would be it...Please review! Bye bye!^^

Edit: Just forgot to mention, the song is 'this is the new Shit' From Marilyn Manson, which i do not own. And i do not own Blood+ either! so please, the guys up there, please dont sue me for this little piece of my imagination.... Oh, i own, the guys at the club and nicky'Nicole, and the plot thingy . Yaaaaay....


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter XI – Yet Another Pathetic Try

People say that after a good night's sleep, you would always feel refreshed and ready for a new day. It is obvious that the people who say such idiotic things are NOT teenagers. Even more, they most likely are old pensioners who have nothing more to do then, well, sleep all fucking day long. Things are so much more different when you are a 16 year old, which had just come back from a club where she almost got raped and received a fist in the face. Plus, add, on top of all of it, the fact that her sleep did not last more then… 7 hours from which 3 werent even in night time.

Nicole grunted deeply as she rolled from a side to the other for the…tenth time in the last quarter of hour. Well, insomnia wasn't anything new for the girl, but still, that did not made it enjoyable. Not even bearable at least. Insomnia was a bitch… but so was she. It was quite rude of her to blame the sheets or the pillow, so she tried to blame the great headache she had woken with and she had carried inside of her skull all night long. After all, it was the first fact which kept her from having a decent sleep. Nicky didn't even remember dreaming anything! That was odd, usually she remembered every single thing she dreamt, but now…her head was blank. Maybe she didn't had the patience or the time to drift in her REM sleep…

But enough with that. Was there any use to torture herself with the thoughts that she might, just might end up sleeping? At this hour? Nicole shook her head as she rose. No way…No dammed way.

There she was, the oh-so-fake one rubbing the sleep away from her eyes and grunting annoyed her nerves. The morning was soon to end, since the clock showed it was almost 10;20 am and there were signs which showed a perfect day was to come. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the wind blew softly and…Nicole was swearing. Apparently, the water wasn't the warmest and her daily shower announced itself a little too refreshing then usually…

Nicole stepped outside her room shyly. She peeked her head to inspect the area. 'clear…' she thought as she dared an exit, closing the door behind then slowly making herself way down, in the kitchen to grab a sandwich and maybe a coffee. Much to her surprise… the house was dead of people. No sign of a human whatsoever. As she descended on the stairs, the girl built a little amount of courage inside her and began to yell after people. "Mister Gray?" she called as she came in the lobby. The only thing she received was an echo. "Monique, Javier, are you two around?" she asked again as she made herself way towards the kitchen. Inwardly, she painted inside her head a little symmetry. The way she wondered around at that moment resembled so much the first time she came to the orphanage, but this time the emotion was building up in her throat. Making herself way shyly towards the kitchen, where she firstly met the company, Nicky dared and called the grumpy red head, even if it was a lot slower.

"Kai?..." she asked sheepishly as she pushed the door open. The girl had to admit, she was expecting everyone to burst out from inside the kitchen and act as if nothing was happening. Much to her disappointment… she was alone. Only the wind made the back door hit against the wall several times. Defeated, she sighed deeply and put her hands on her hips. Well, she was totally going to deny the theory in which she just woken up in a parallel universe, which was filled with zombies and where she had to save the last remained humans from a certain death. Well, it did made her chuckle a bit, mostly because she imagined an undead version of Hagi. She could picture him so well; wearing his black coat, with greenish skin and maybe one eye out exposing brain-consuming bugs crawling out of the eye socket and maybe a part of his cheek missing showing his jaw and-

No, this had to stop. It was getting stupid. Even more, why was she thinking of that guy in first place? Well, maybe because he shut up for her? Just maybe? Nah, of course not. Mostly because in just a flash of a second everything which had happened last night ran through her head, making her slap herself across the face again. This time she let out a small 'ouch..' Apparently she had forgotten that she had a bruise on her face. Eh, who cares? Zombies are cool enough…

Slapping her face she made herself way towards the fridge, opened it and helped herself with a nice jar of jam and the bottle of fresh orange juice. What if there was no one around the place? Did that not allowed her to feed herself? Food first, then go search for the others. What, was she really all alone in that cottage? Quicker then ever, Nicole was soon enough with a couple of strawberry jammed sandwiches on a plate, and greedy chewing on one of it. She didn't even bothered to take herself a glass for the orange juice; it was good enough she decided to drop the coffee for something natural. Why care if she drank right from the bottle? Eh, and they call her irresponsible…

Soon enough, one sandwich was gone and the second one followed it close by. The bottle ended up half emptied and the plate had been thrown carelessly in the sink. She was to let the blond take care of that. Nicole was about to get her butt around and search for the others, but as soon as she felt the kitchen she felt a wave of laziness devour her thin and bony body. Well, she might as well, catch a few more hours of sleep, right? After all, she was still a kid. Well a 16-year old one, but still a kid. And she needed sleep to grow up. Yes sir…

As she made herself way upstairs, the brown haired girl busted inside and landed on the bed, face up and limbs spread pretty much everywhere on the unmade bed. But she didn't care about that. What she did are about was the thick stink around her room. Well, the clothes she wore on her last…trip did not end up in the washing machine, or not even in the laundry basket, instead, they were on the desk of her room and on the chair from the desk, and those ones were the true source of the stink. Full of cig smoke, alcohol and hell knew what 'aromas' they perfumed the whole room that way. Nicole made a face as she got up and opened the window widely. How the heck didn't she came to notice that before? But, than again, she didn't noticed the sound either…

Only a second after she opened her window, her ears had been filled with a faint tune. It was barely audible, but it was so different from the bird's songs, it made itself well heard. Nicole's forehead frowned as she tried to concentrate to defy the sound better. It was a grave sound, rhythmic and full of sadness, as if ten soprano women were crying in union. But there was something which made the brown haired girl's skin crawl. The fact that she believed the tune was actually beautiful. Nicky's hands dropped by her sides and then she hugged herself tight. The wind rushed inside her small room, carrying with it more of the song's notes. Under the refreshing breeze, her brown eyes closed as her head tiled to one side. Where had she heard this before? It was so different of what she usually listened, but yet, it sounded so familiar. Slightly narrowed her eyes, she made the connection. It resembled the sound she heard before she felt asleep on the couch, a few days ago, when she arrived. The sound of a cello… Nicole's eyes opened themselves when yet another connection was made. The other day, saya told her something about Hagi and him playing the cello… How awkward it was, but the girl felt the sudden rush to run outside, and see Hagi as he played the instrument. That if, it was him who played. It made sense, right? Who else could ever be other then him? Talking about automatic moves; Nicole spun on her heels and went outside in a blink of an eyes, not before she grabbed her black and silver pocket knife and shove it down in her back pocket.

They say music holds the power to tame even the wildest beasts, but they always say, it may rule over the darkest hearts and leave the wisest ones without words. And they were so right…

It was as if a spell had been cast over her. After several minutes from which her run turned into a calm and steady walk through the garden, Nicole found the source of the music. It was no wonder to find him, playing his instrument as if he was all alone in the world, and time itself never existed. The girl stopped herself about 10 meters away from him and stood there watching closely.

Hagi stood with his back at her, sitting on a small wooden chair, his legs bent and between them a large cello was place. He held it with his left hand while the other one held the bow and ran it smoothly over the strings. Only his hands moved, the rest of his body was solemn and motionless. What the girl noticed was that his hair was no longer held in his usual pony tail. Now it was left to fall freely over the back of his neck and shoulders. Oh, his hair, Nicole spent several minutes staring at his black wavy hair. She had such a great urge to step before and run her fingers through it, convincing herself of its silkiness, but she didn't. the brown haired girl stood in place as her body allowed itself to relax. For a few seconds she truly believed that she had fallen asleep on her own two legs, but then the bow ran over a string and made a higher note, making her snap back to reality. The reality in which he played his cello. And it was beautiful…How in the world she forgot about…about all of this? The streets, the dances... nothing compared with this. And she didn't referred to the music only. This man was so dedicated to this instrument, his moves were perfect and every single note truly felt as if it were part of a whole, it didn't only fascinated the girl; it sent shivers on the back of her neck as well. Hagi seemed… perfect. Perfect beyond reality. Beyond humanity. Nicole started to breathe hard as she felt her vision becoming slightly blurry. In a flash of a second she recalled what happened in her room last night. She recalled his face to be more certain. That pale face and that pair of blue hypnotizing eyes. The symmetry of his features… It was as if this man, this talented musician had been created by the most perfectionist mathematician out there… Even the way he talked and moved made Nicole think he was out of this world.

But then it happened. The cruel reality, the real reality had spoken, and dragged the girl out of the world of her own mind violently, as the song ended abrupt. Nicole snapped her eyes quickly and blinked them a couple of times. Yes, the trees, the sun, the cello, was all there. But most importantly…

"Nicole?.."

…him. He was there too.

The girl took a step backwards at the sound of his voice. It pierced her ears more violently then the sound of loud rock music in the noisiest of the clubs. After a fanatic look around, she gasped slightly as her eyes met the man's, in a collision so strong it made her widen her own. Her voice was lost for a few seconds, but luckily, she learnt by now this man was patient. Still she decided it wouldn't be a good idea to push her luck. She gasped and then lowered her eyes, timid and nervous. Why to say to him? Apologize, thank him, compliment him, or ask for info? As she thought about what her reply would be Nicole kicked the dirt with her foot. Seconds later, the child of her mind was born and freed from her lips in such a short and dry manor, she left like slapping herself right after she said it.

"Hi…"

Too late. Her evident stupidity and idiotic self couldn't help but grunt annoyed at her own response as she still avoided his gaze. Damn his blue eyes. Still, she consoled herself that maybe, just maybe he was wearing contacts… Even if he wasn't the type of person who would fake anything about himself.

But then she heard him rose and carry the instrument towards its case. When the clicks had been heard, Nicole remembered something and out of a sudden ran towards him. "wait!" she told the man as the cello was placed in its box. Hagi did nothing but shot her a neutral stare from over his shoulder, before turning around to face her. The cello was already in its case, but it was opened. Nicole couldn't help but peek her eyes to a side trying to see it. The man before her rose an eyebrow at her actions.

"What is it?" he asked solemn as always. His voice made the girl snap back once again to reality and acknowledge the actual reason why she came here. So, why not simply said it out and loud? Who cared it wasn't the response Hagi expected from her? In a blink of an eyes, Nicky took a step towards the tall man and rose her head, eyeing him once more.

"You play well." She said quickly before her eyes ran again at the cello. Hagi's eyes also moved towards the instrument for a second only before he eyed the girl before him.

"Thank you." He replied short. It was yet another argument for Nicky to believe that he was a man of few words. Maybe too few. Maybe almost no words. Maybe she had to snap back to reality…

"No really!" the girl almost protested as her hands rose before her in an attempt to touch his torso, but she quickly realized her action and withdrew her arms. "That is…sick."

Sick…?

SICK?

Well, the Nicole had nothing more to say to this great cello player other then what he done was sick. There were so many words out there, other complicated words which she could have used to give this man a good impression, but no. she just went back to the good old street and complimented Hagi by saying his talent was sick. At that moment, Nicky truly expected a disgusted reaction from him, an insult or why not a slap across the face. Much to her wonder, he done something else.

"Is that a good thing, in your view?" Hagi asked with his eyebrows slightly rose, making Nicole rise her own lowered head and give him an odd look. From what century was this guy again…? Anyways, maybe this was her salvation…

"It's a good thing…fabulous thing!" she said as she faked a chuckle and threw her hands by her sides. Fabulous; well, it sounded more…decent then 'sick', right? But it was clearly not her style. She even had problems pronouncing it. Still, Hagi was patient and willingly enough to understand another grudge girl , right? Right?

Apparently, he did. The man actually saw her struggle and said nothing more but another small 'thank you', before he spun around and closed his cello case. He then threw the huge coffin-like case over his shoulder and grabbed the small chair as well. All was set for him to head inside, when the girl before him spoke again, right when he was about to pass besides her.

"Wait! Where are the others?"

Oh yes. She slept until now, haven't she? Well, it was no wonder that she was a little freaked out of finding herself all alone in the large mansion at almost noon. Hagi turned around on his heels and faced her once more. After all, his inner gentleman did not allowed him to talk with anyone without his whole body facing them.

"They left in the morning for London to do some shopping." Hagi watched Nicole close and by the look on her face, he replied before she had the chance to ask. "I was left behind because you were still sleeping. You coulnt have been left alone."

Oblivious…Just oblivious.

Nicole simply stared at the man before her as he spoke. Why did he said 'was left behind'? Well, it was evident that he did not wished to be there with her, right? After all, what did he said last night again? Oh, yes; he thought of her as if she was his responsibility, didn't he? The girl's eyebrows frowned at the thought. Wait a moment. What the hell happened, last night again? 'HOLY SHI-!'

Out of a sudden, her hand rose and slapped her forehead as her eyes grew slightly wider and pinned on his own, half opened ones. Her hand descended slowly, with a false dramatic touch as she remember something. He promised! He promised that thing! Would it be ok if she asked him again about that? Well, why not, since he already said it would be ok if he would keep her small secret? Then again, maybe he would be pissed if he would be reminded. Well, the last option would be to simply try and make the subject clear indirectly. With the risk of sounding like a total idiot, of course…. Reaching her slap hand and rubbing the back of her neck nervously, Nicole decided it would be time to speak, ofter almost two full minutes of complete silence.

"Hey…Hagi?" she rose her eyes to pin them to his. She began to bite her bottom lip. "Errr….Hey, about last night." This time, his eyebrows knitted together. "Ummm….did you- I mean, does Gray-"

"I haven't told them."

Good then. That was good. Nicky lowered her head and nodded stupidly as she kicked the dirt with her foot once more. Damn, it was so hard to try and say something to this man…it made her feel dumb. After the last words had been said, the two of them done nothing but stand and stare. He stared at her, with the same emotionless and cold look he always had, she stared at her feet with an ashamed and dumb look in her eyes. The situation was really, really….annoying. and it lasted until Nicole finally came to realize that Hagi had already passed her and was walking back to the cottage. Grunting and rolling her eyes she rushed at his side.

"Hey! Why you drifting off like that?" she asked him as she made sure to keep distance. Hagi didn't even bothered to exchange a glance with her.

"I have told you I was heading back."

"no you didn't!" she snapped back. The man turned his head and stopped from his rhythmical walk, making the girl stop as well, but only after she took a couple of steps more. Gosh, this was annoying….Shooting him a 'what the hell?' look, she placed her hands on her hips and left her mouth hang slightly open. Nicole swore they were just like brother and sister. A priest brother and a stupid sister that is… She swore, she was going to kill something once she would get back at the cottage. Her anger became frustration and annoyance for good… For Hagi, the situation was as stupid and annoying as it was for Nicole; only that he wasn't showing it out as evident as the human did. He waited for a few minutes to pass by on purpose. Maybe, just maybe this girl would remember his words from when she was staring at her feet. Apparently, she wasn't really paying attention and she haven't heard him. But that didn't meant he haven't told her anything.

"Yes, I have told you."

_SAY WHAT!_

Watching him as he passed her once again, made the girl jump at him and slap this guy hard. Had she just lost it and jumped in some kind of parallel dimension? Back in NY, this king of satiation would have been avoid so simply, with a tongue out face and maybe some superficial curses. But noooo…he just had to act like that and make her feel dumb. Rolling her eyes once more, the girl spun around and caught up with his again. So hard to believe that a person who played such a passionate and pure music could be…such an elegant jerk.

"Whatever! See if I care!" she commented as she crossed her arms pissed. For a second, the man besides her thought it would be better to remind her that she actually cared, but yet again, why bother with such a childish girl? Such a childish and annoying girl, but still with such weird conceptions about life…? Hagi shook the thought away. It was not the time to think of that. Not now. He just let the silence around them to guide them as they approached calm, slow and steady Gray's house once more. And they would have reached it the same way, if Nicole wouldn't have spoke again.

"So… You gonna show me your hand?"

No. this was Not going to happen. Yet it happened… Hagi frowned, barely noticeable and stopped. He almost forgot about that. Almost. Yet, his small stop made the girl spot as well. Yet, she wasn't so affected by her own question like the chiropteran was. Walking around him in a bored manor, the teenager stopped when she reached his right side.

"Really, how the hell have you burned yourself?" she questioned once more as her own hand reached for his, but the chevalier quickly withdraw it and spun around to face the girl. Her eyes widened and rose, to meet his own. Really, what was so dramatic about a burned hand? As she stared at the man, Nicole couldn't help but guess what was the other emotion he tried to hide and was faintly written on his face. Tilting her head to her right, she lowered her gaze again. Hagi stepped back and began to walk once more. Just ignore her.

"Dude, what's up?"

As if ignoring her would be possible….

"Let us go back. The other must have returned by now."

Nicole's eyebrow rose even more in confusion. Well, she watched once a documentary about how people with handicaps do not like to be remembered that all the time and stuff. Maybe Hagi had a handicap at his hand? Well, yeah, maybe, maybe not. But then again why would he react like that if he didn't? Nicky gulped the knot in her throat away; maybe she acted a bit rude with him. She though that she should be doing something nice instead, right? Heh, like that would happen. The girl didn't even knew how to be nice with someone like this guy in first place! Damn, it was so frustrating… Well, why not wonder in silence and hope that in the near future Hagi would simply unmask himself? Nicole chocked a laugh.

_'Maybe it's a mutation…like, a crab claw?'_

Ah, the innocence.

* * *

As the many thought of Nicole ruled over her already cluttered mind, the teen didn't even noticed she was left alone; Hagi already made himself way towards the cottage, and she spot him as he entered the back door. The same door she entered herself. Minutes later, the door was slammed open and then shut by the normal pissed-off attitude of the imaginative orphan, as she made herself way towards the living room. Judging by the many voice which came from that direction, Nicole assumed that Gray, Monique, Kai and Saya came back. Oh, and that girl Javier, too. Out of a sudden another wave of annoyance took over her guts, as the girl realized that she needed to pass the living room in order to get to the stairs and into her room. Well, gray was either a bad designer, either too careless to have a living-room door as well…..

As she made herself way through the corridor with her characteristic boyish and very ungraceful walk, Nicole almost reached the stairs and was more then ready to start her climb at the first floor, but Gray's grampa-like voice filled her ears.

"Well, look who is up."

_'Damn…'_

The girl turned her head slowly and noticed each one's figure one by one. A rather forced and bored smile curved her lips. No need to be a bitch with them, too, right? She simply nodded her head only once.

"Hey Gray, girls…" she addressed to the four persons she actually didn't minded to salute. But then the narrowed figure of Kai came into view and thus her smile disappeared into a frown. "…Asshole." The teen managed to finished under her breath before making another attempt at climbing towards her room. But Monique cut in.

"We were gone shopping. Hope you didn't freaked out or anything when you woke up alone." She said as she began to carry a few bags towards the kitchen. Nicole followed her figure with her half closed and disinterested eyes.

"What happened to your forehead?" the old man asked as he shot her a quick look before heading outside. Shit, she had almost forgotten about that.

"Not really…" Nicole stated. "I found Hagi in the back of the house actually. Oh, and this?" she asked as she inwardly rose her hand and touched lightly her bruised temple. Well, hopefully there was still some make-up on her face and it wasnt showing up that nasty. "I just fell off my bed last night."

"Are you feeling well?" Gray asked again as he came back, carrying a rather big box, but judging from the way the man handled it, the teen was almost sure it wasn't that heavy. Still, she couldn't help but notice the other two boxes which were already resting on the living room's floor, and shared the same packing style. She rose an eyebrow but said nothing, nodded her head 'yes' and decided that it was time to drift off for good. As soon as she rose her foot to climb up, she was stopped again. This was getting really damn annoying.

"Wait a minute Nicole!" Gray's voice called as she turned around again. "these three pieces are for you."

"Errr…excuse me?"

"We took them from the central post office in London! And boy we had a time carrying them to the car, but I helped too!"

Of course that perky voice came from the little throat of Javier. Nicole didn't really had anything against her, she was just a kid after all, but still. Her attitude made the girl slightly tired in her own skin. Well, Nicole was a huge critic to anyone and everyone. Including herself. That is why she hated mirrors.

"Really?" she asked with a slight mock, but the child did not caught her intentions.

"Yes! Kai told me its from New York! Just imagined how much it traveled to get here!"

The second part of Javier's words did not reached Nicole's ears after all. She froze when she heard the two magical words. New York. What exactly did she meant by that? The girl grew slightly uncomfortable in her own skin for a few seconds, and inwardly she wanted to ignore everything and get her ass back in her room. Fact which didn't happened at all. Damn her curiosity. Kai's bored and uncaring words were the ones which really confirmed all her suspicions. As he sat down on the couch and placed both his hands at the back of his neck, he spoke, eyes closed.

"Yeah…That Cornelius guy sent you a package."

TO BE CONTINUED…

* * *

A/N: This is late and i know it pretty well... sorry for this late update, and for that matter i dont really have an excuse. Its pretty much the fact that i discovered that i had a life outsiode my room too and well, i also got accepted in a dance crew c:

Anyway, the credit for this chappie belongs to Aldredon, hopefully she is still reading .

Review please!


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter XII – Live For The Future.

_Thud._

_Thud._

_Thud._

Boy, that sound was annoying. Yet she kept doing it until the bed panel would look worst then her hair in the morning. Which was really worst for that matter. But heck if she cared; it wasn't her furniture anyway. And even if it was, she would have probably destroyed it the very same way, stabbing the poor piece of wood numerous times with the pocket knife with the skulled handle. Which, pretty ironical, was her last link with the past life she had until two days ago. Well, it wasn't as ironic as it sounded after all; it was more like frustrating and annoying. Two emotions which Nicole learned to bear, but she still did not accepted any of them. The teen threw the knife again into the wood with the same sound, grabbed its handle and forced it out. Before repeating obsessively the actions.

On the floor of her room, lay three FedEx-like boxes, each with a small notice glued onto it. One had written 'things you will need' on it, the other had 'things you don't need' written and the last one was scribbled really messy 'Things I don't need, so im sending them to you." How nice of her father to send her back all the shit she tried to remember. Well, it was just another pathetic try of his to make something useful for his daughter. But he failed. Until now, nothing new. HE just cleaned after her in the apartment and decided that it might have been a good idea to not throw away her things, but sent them to her. Too bad she tried to put them all behind her and at least try to start a new chapter of her life. Cornelius done nothing good but place an extra burden on her already tired and weakened shoulders. She did not wanted to unwrap those boxes and see again that stuff. But she wasn't able to throw her whole life away as if it was garbage. It was a lot nicer to think that maybe, just maybe it was kept safe in some place which she used to call home. Well, at least that was what she planned on to believe in, even if knowing her father, he would have thrown it all away like trash. Still, she would have came back years later and she wouldn't be affected if she saw it all thrown away. Why? Because she would be an adult and stuff, a new chapter of her life and blah blah blah….

But NO. He just HAD to sent it all BACK!

Nicole felt like yelling out of frustration and anger and well...hate. She really came to think that maybe she really was an orphan, even if her father wasn't dead.

The girl sent another glance towards the boxes. The wind came in softly in her room and made the paper wave lightly, indicating how careless he was when he glued them on into the boxes. It was oblivious he was in a hurry, or maybe he hired someone to do it for him. But the writing was nonetheless his own. Those messy characters and the lack of space between them; it was all characteristic to Cornelius. IT was almost as if those dammed boxes were mocking the girl. They were mocking her to hard, she found herself glaring at them and seconds later a pillow went flying in their direction. As the pillow made contact with one of the items, it knocked it over and from it's insides a small sound of a string being touched was heard. The sound was faint, but it was so familiar, Nicole simply forgot about her current frown or growl and simply widened her eyes in wonder. The box was titled 'Things you don't need."

That son of a bitch… He didn't just…DID HE!

The teen wasted no time when she realized it. Fuck the whole new chapter thing! Like Toad once said "you should commemorate the past, live for the present and fuck the future! Other way it wouldn't be so fun." And boy he was right. So, Nicole just fucked it all for a few moments and stabbed the wooden bed with the dagger one more time, before getting off her bed and making herself way to the box. Should she open it, or shouldn't she? While she decided, the girl made herself more comfortable by placing the pillow she just thrown under her butt. And she decided to open it.

And it didn't even took her that much time, because the used scotch was such a poor quality she managed to rip the box apart with her bare hands. Peaking her eyes inside she bit her bottom lip at the sight of the shiny wooden surface of her beloved friend. Her acoustic guitar. Nicole reached her hand and touched it lightly. That fucker had forgotten about it case; guessed he haven't checked under her bed, and thus there were a couple of small scratches on its perfect smooth surface. Still, it took her another few seconds to manage and take the musical instrument out of the box and place it in her lap.

The feeling of having her guitar close to her again was overwhelming, and the teen couldn't help but smile a smile like no other. Her rough and boyish expression softened down and the smile curving her lips gave Nicky a gentle look. How in the world did he decided to place this baby in the 'things you don't need' box! It was almost insulting! With her left hand placed on the neck of the guitar, she pressed three strings as the right hand ran its fingers on them. The room filled with the lovely sound she just created, and Nicole allowed herself to close her eyes and take as much as she could from that solemn moment. It was the kind of feeling someone would get when receiving an…aphrodisiac or some kind of light drug. Only that it was the form of music.

And like any other drug, it was addicting. So addicting, Nicole found herself staring out the window with the guitar on her lap and her fingers simply playing a simple and soft melody on its strings. It was the kind of melody a mother would use as a lullaby for her child, and Nicole haven't played it for quite a while now. Considering how tense the things were back home, she never had the chance to actually play a song what-so-ever. So such a calm melody was out of discussion. Still, she found the strength to play it now. And she wasn't regretting it. The tune was so calm and smooth and simple…pure bliss and nothing more. Nicole understood perfectly why she had gotten the same feeling when she listened to Hagi playing his cello. Even more, she almost had painted the very same feeling he must have had while playing. But she was so bad at hiding it, since the dreamy smile was still planted on her face. The girl leaned her head backwards as her fingers continued to play along the strings. She remained like that for tens of seconds until her right hand dropped on her lap as Nicole enjoyed the echo of the last few notes. Well, it was exactly what she needed to make her day better.

Her eyes dropped on the instrument as she sighed deeply and her hands ran along the shiny wooden surface. That guitar…was a big part of her past. Maria thought her how to play a few years ago, right after SMC was officially a crew. And even if she did not a ear for music she learned it quickly. Of course, her work wasn't perfect and she only knew how to play simple songs, but for her was enough. Mostly because there were times when Toad done some beat-boxing and she just played a simple background tune. But most of times, she kept her 'performances' only for herself. Still, the guitar was a part of the past she tried to leave behind. Out of a sudden, Nicole felt a wave of rage and hatred towards Cornelius. He done nothing more but make it even more difficult then it already was. Frustrating…

She was now torn between hugging the item or throwing it to smash in a wall.

But she did not do any of those. Nicole sighed deeply and without looking she hid the guitar under her tall bed and pulled some sheets over so it would be hidden from her eyes. Maybe if she did not saw it, things would be easier. Well, it wasn't exactly that way…

Her head turned around as she spotted the other boxes. Well, she already saw and played her friend. What harm could do if she checked the other stuff as well? Sighing deeply, she reached her hand and grabbed the 'Thing you need' box. Hopefully there wasn't any big deal stuffed inside. Just a few clothes along with some magazines and some books she used to read. What Cornelius did not know was that more then half of the books had been gifted to her from her friend. The memory send another knot in her throat, but she decided to ignore it, so the books she did not wanted in her way went under the bed as well.

Nicole threw the now empty box away and directed her attention towards the 'things you don't need' box, with slightly narrowed eyes. Inside it were several things she considered at first useless, but then again at a closer look, she found almost a half of her original music CDs and DVDs, not to mentions some short films from her crew's performances. Of course, this brough another bitter-sweet sent inside Nicole's mouth. And it wasn't because of the music…Still, she couldn't help but smile lightly when she found at the bottom her laptop. Excuse me, did she said smile? Nicole truly chuckled at its sight. It looked ten times more destroyed then she remembered it to be. Well, considering it was an old and rusty model…But the girl never done any significant effort to keep it 'as good as new'. Still, after a quick check, she smiled again when she saw the memory card was still there. At least now she wouldn't get bored; she had installed a shit load of games on that piece of technologic garbage. Unlike the other items she found until then, the teen placed the laptop on her bed, but with the same characteristic careless attitude. Well, it was already trashed, right?

As she crawled on her room's floor to reach the final box, Nicole's smile disappeared when she saw what lied inside it. It was the smallest box, yet it carried enough to make Nicole's eyes tear, only for a second, before she came back into her sense. Inside rested all her past as a pro dancer. As a street dancer. Everything from her gloves and head-band to her boxes and her own rubber carpet, on which she used to practice with Ankh.

In the blink of an eye, everything came back to her and hit her mind like a whip. The very first dance she and the crew performed in the clubs had been rehearsed on that rubber carpet. The very last dance she and the crew were to perform had been rehearsed on that carpet. The very same scheme she missed so many times had been rehearsed on that carpet. That carpet carried with it her years since she started to dance. It knew every single move of Nicole, every single inch of it was permanently ready to support her back-flips, her worm moves and even the group-schemes such as the pyramids or the rings they used to do. As the memories invaded her mind, Nicole made the effort of taking the carpet out of the box and lay it in front on her. She stared blankly at it smooth and opaque surface as her fingers ran across it. Suddenly, the sensitive skin of her fingers met something wet and they suddenly stopped.

Tears. Were nothing more but another thing she would remember that carpet for.

Nicole smiled bitterly at her own ironic self.

_'I will be able to dance again…'_

_

* * *

A/N: _I know this chapter is really short, but i just wanted to reveal what the heck was in those boxes :3 The next chapter will come soon as well and i think it will be about how Nicole dances and stuff, but im still thinking about that matter. Also, sorry for the lack of talent in describing the guitar and stuff...im not really the best at those, but really know, did you ever listened to a guitar solo? Its just beautiful ^^

Anyway, suggestiong are always loved C: Review please ^^


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter XIII - Still Alive.

London was such a different town in the daylight. The buildings did not seemed to be abandoned places and the corners turned out to be filled with trash cans, not bloody murderers threading to jump over and rape or hell knew what. Still, Nicole was pretty damn sure she would have always preferred the cool of the night instead of this burning heat of the day. Still, ever since she had received those things from her father the other day, the teen did not come out of her room, not even to eat. It was oblivious this worried Gray, who, like the nice man that he was insisted that all of them would simply get out for a walk. So there they were, after a 45 minutes long drive with the public transport The owner, Monique, a new girl she met named Mao, Kai, Saya, Hagi and of course Nicole found themselves somewhere near the center of the big city. And the killing summer heat was…well, killing them all. Fuck, the new Yorker always thought this place was gloomy and rainy and cloudy all the time. She hated the irony.

Soon enough, when they all came to realize that it was no good wondering around at 2 pm, when the sun was burning everything in its path. So guess what? Gray came out with two options. They either turned back, or split up for a while. Why? Because Mao wouldn't stop complaining about 'how-long-had-it-been-since-she-entered-a-mall' shit, along with the poor Monique who's will was too weak to object anything. Hopefully the brown haired girl did not spoke anything towards Nicky, ever since she saw her 'street gear'. Apparently she did not enjoyed the company of a punk. Heh, the stereotypes annoyed her.

Still, they ended up splitting up. Gray made himself way in a fishing shop, not far from where they settled their meeting point, Mao rushed towards the shopping avenue, dragging along her 'friend' and Kai, and Nicole remained stuck in her place with Hagi and Saya. But that only until she assured there was no-one around to see them. Smirking lightly to herself, the teen dig her hands deep in her pockets and turned around walking in some random direction.

"Well, have fun. See you in two hours." She saluted Hagi and Saya from the behind while rising one hand and waving carelessly. Saya's eyebrows rose at her gesture.

"Wait!" she rushed after her. "I believe that we should stick together. You are not familiar with the area, and you said you forgotten your cell phone at home." Saya told the bored girl as she reached out her hand and grabbed her arm. Nicole turned around with a look full of annoyance and frustration planted on her face. Well, the irony once again. Fate made things in such a way that they weren't too far away from 'the great dick of London', the area which she came to know pretty well, especially after last night's events. Still, Nicole sighed and tried to hide her emotions as well as the fact she was there before. Turning around she chuckled and placed her hand over Saya's shoulder.

"I know, but don't worry about me. I have a good orientation; ill manage to find my way around."

This being said, she turned once more to leave, but then she felt once more a grip on her arm. But this grip was far more tight to be Saya's. Damn…she almost forgot about _him._ Nicole turned around slowly as her gaze met his own. Those perfect blue eyes…DAMN, weren't those contacts after all!

"I think Saya is right. We should stay together." The stoic man spoke as his hand dropped at his side. Before she had the chance to realize it, Nicole noticed it was his right hand. The one with the bloody bandage. She almost forgot that he still had an agreement with her. The teen will deal with that later. Still, she couldn't help but sent a glare in his direction. Was he using that fact that he kept her secret in order to 'tame' her? What an ass! FUCK, did that meant she was now depending on him? Actually, it was the exact thing he tried to do, even if Hagi did not thought of it as being that radical. He would name all of this a 'controlled blackmail' or a 'mutual agreement.' Well, he would stay with the second term.

The chiropteran queen couldn't help but feel as the silence between the three of them began to confuse her. Glancing from her chevalier to the orphan and back, Saya began to question herself. Was there something she was missing? As she watched them, she could tell the two of them were communicating, even if they done it without words. Her eyes were angry and she seemed ready to start cursing out loud, while he was stoic and solemn as ever, only that his eyes told Nicole to be careful with her actions. Almost like a warning. She parted her lips in order to speak, but Nicole cut her unwillingly.

"Fine then." She replied while lowering her gaze and turning to leave once more. Hagi merely blinked at all of this. Saya remained in her position, watching his eyes as they gazed at Nicole's back, only to mirror his gesture shortly after. When the teen was far enough, the queen turned to face her chevalier.

"Is there…something wrong?"

Hagi hesitate a mere second, before turning his head as well, to face the girl.

"Everything is fine, Saya."

* * *

Let us try and define the word 'fine'. 'Fine' means that a person feels somehow positive or maybe even neutral. A 'fine' person is a person who, at the present moment, feel good, and does not fear, worry and suspect anything. Not to mention, frustration, rage and anger are out of the subject. So, was Hagi 'fine' with the situation Nicole threw both of them into? Hardly. Was he fine with all this 'baby-sitting' thing? Not really. Was Nicole 'fine' with the fact that she was stuck for two full hours with Mr Robocop and Goth-girl? Hell NO. Neither of them were fine. Still, it wasn't really anything left to do for them to be fine.

About 15 minutes after their last talk, the three of them found themselves somewhere in a marker square; a place filled with a lot of shops with different things from sweet and spices to clothes and gifts. The place was rather crowded, but the atmosphere was a typical English one. Still none of them seemed too excited about the idea. Feeling the tension between her two companions, Saya decided to speak first.

"How about we check up some shops?" she asked in a low voice as she averted her eyes in the direction of Nicole then towards Hagi. Well, the last few years were merciless with her, and she grew pretty distant from such simple and oblivious things as shopping, but still, she felt as if she was the most normal one from the three of them. Really, Nicole was enjoying herself by kicking a rock and Hagi done nothing more but…oh well, being Hagi. The chiropteran queen actually wished for them to communicate one way or another. The first one to react was her chevalier.

"Is that is what you wish, then yes." Typical. This stoic response even made Nicole avert her eyes towards his figure, yet she said nothing about it. By this time she grew used with his shit.

"I'll wait outside." The teen mumbled quickly as she turned her eyes towards the square.

Mission failed. Now what?

Saya tried to resist the urge to sigh deeply and show her deepest annoyance and frustration about the current situation. Well, she tried. If they were to be like that forever and ever, then she was to leave them be.

"Actually, I feel rather thirsty." She declared trying to change the subject. "Anyone in for a drink?"

Of course, Hagi wasn't going to show any kind of reaction about this and the queen knew it. And, in fact she wasn't that surprised when she heard only a small mumble from the new Yorker. So, they were to go for a cold and refreshing drink. Seeing none of them was going to take the initiative, Saya went forward, followed by her loyal Hagi and Nicole walking a few steps back. Things were pretty tensed and none of them wanted to make them worst. But fate was about to laugh in Nicole's face again.

And maybe things weren't going to get any worst if she would have chosen to ignore that fatigue sound.

As they passed one of the main avenues of London, not far away from Big Ben, searching for a small café, Nicole's ears picked up a certain distinct sound. And her reaction was quite oblivious. Her half open eyes widened, her head rose and her lips parted. It was a rhythmic sound she haven't heard in what seemed to be ages. It was so familiar, but foreign at the same time. Her head slowly turned around, trying to locate the source of the sound. Well, by this time she was damn sure it wasn't only a rhythmic sound. It was some kind of music. She recognized the beat of drums and the electric sound of a guitar, not to mention the clicks of a keyboard as well, all of these sounds being filtered through some docks. She immediately stopped, frozen to the bone.

"No way…"

The words rolled so smoothly off her tongue, Hagi couldn't help but flinch slightly as well. It was the kind of voice she rarely used, and he already came to learn that. It was the small and fragile voice Nicole used when she showed her true face, not the one of an over-matured girl with anger issues. He stopped and turned his head to eye Nicole over his shoulder. He noticed how tensed her body grew and her almost shocked facial expression. Something just happened, and he wasn't sure if it was good.

"Nicole." He called her name. Her head turned around right away and eyed the man before her with a slightly confused expression.

"What?"

"Were you listening to the music?"

"Oh..that." of course he heard it too, only that he wasn't so obvious. Rising one hand to rub the back of her neck, the girl bent a little towards her right to see Saya's figure as well.

"Is there anything wrong?" the black haired girl asked with a slight hint of concern in her voice. The orphan began to feel uncomfortable. That was music she heard, but not any music. It was Bomfunk MC's 'Freestyle', a well known street tune, the excellent song for the medium classed dancers. Among the ones such as Nicole, 'Freestyle' was already a classic, the kind of song which never grew old and always allowed the dancer to try new moved and schemes. She haven't heard that song in almost two full months, and the fact that she heard it here, clearly coming out of some over-sized docks done nothing more but add more strength in her belief that London truly had street dancers. Last night she haven't had the chance to see some good gangs dancing, but maybe now…

Nicole gulped.

"Listen, how about you go on and I will come in about 15 mins or so?"

Silence chocked them all for a few seconds as both Hagi and Saya tried to digest the orphan's request. On one side, Saya was rather worried and really confused about this, while Hagi was suspicious. Pretty normal since last time she went out alone, she came back with a bloody temple. Thank god the make up covered up the bruise.

"You are joking, right? Nicole, you know we cant leave you alone. You don't know the place an-"

"I know, I know! Saya, please, just 15 minutes and I will be right back! I promise."

The situation became pretty desperate from Nicole's point of view. And it figures, mostly because she simply had the flaw of curiosity, a sin which consumed her from inside out. But it was her nature to be curious and suspicious. Just think about the habitat she lived until now. This time was no difference. It was as if she belonged to a pack of wolves and she was trying now to find her kin. Heh, she had to remember to write down the wolves stuff.

"I truly believe we should stay together."

_'Damn you Hagi.'_

"Aw, come on!" Nicole protested. "I promise I will be _fine_."

Yet again, try and define the word 'fine'.

* * *

_'Saya, I love you!'_

That was all Nicole was able to think, because without her words hell knew if the teen might have been able to leave for those 15 damn minutes. The black haired chick wasn't as bad as she thought after all. The girl was already thinking of ways to thank her as she averted herself through the small side ways between the brick walls of the English blocks. She knew what she was searching and she was so damn sure she would find it. Still, that did not meant she was going to pass on noticed. The hood of her black hoodie was now hanging over her head, zipped up to her neck and her hands digged deep in her baggy pant's pockets. Well, it wasn't her specialization to pass on unnoticed, but she was trying right?

With each step the music grew stronger. 'Freestyle' ended pretty fast after she started her small walk and now another song played. She could have told it was a remix, but she wasn't sure she knew the song. Anyway, it was a pretty bitchin' one, because inside her pockets her fingers were snapping and tapping her leg on the rhythm of the tune. English guys had pretty nice tastes in hip hop music.

And only seconds later she discovered the source of all that noise.

Somewhere behind the block, right around the corner a small court was placed. Just like back in the US, the place had pretty much everything such as an improvised basketball ring, a few rubber carpets and a few slides which she supposed formed some kind of lame children's playground. The small court was filled with dudes and chicks around her age, if not older or younger. From this aspect she noticed that the rules might have been the same such as the age was no problem, if you knew a move or two. The seconds thing she noticed was that all the dudes seemed a lot more violent then her friends when it came to clothing, hair and make-up. Well, yeah its true, England was the home of anarchy, but seriously, she looked so soft compared to them. Yet, Nicole learned not to judge a person by the looks, so this was again, not a problem. The third, and probably most important things she came to realize was that in the same area three or maybe four gangs trained TOGETHER. This kind of thing was a complete tabu back home, mostly because each crew was very secretive when it comes to their moves and schemes. To see such a thing was a true rarity, but Nicole came to the conclusion that this must've been some kind of friendly 'battle'. Still, she decided it was better if she hid behind a corner until things proved to be safe.

Fortunately, she had a great view at one of the rubbers. And boy, she was truly impressed. First of all, these guys had nice schemes, not to mention they were done perfectly to the very last detail. She noticed that everyone had a certain role, some were into stunt-like moves, while others preferred group schemes, but the most impressive ones were their pair figures.

The girl lost several minutes admiring their work and she couldn't help but feel as the memories began to hunt her once again. They all seemed to united and close one to another, even if they were of different crews. These strangers were nothing like the way she and the SMC were until they broke apart. Nicole had been thrown out of her family only because she failed in making a damn landing after a triple jump. But these people…they almost made her feel ashamed she ever danced in first place. She was nothing like them. She did not belong there. The girl felt exiled, alone and renegade and she decided it was time to turn back. Big mistake.

In her hurry, Nicole tripped over some empty soda cans, and despite the loud music, the sound of the metal being kicked was too distinct. Right away, several mumbles and chatter of suspicious was heard.

"Hey, who's there!" a male voice was heard, dripping with the specific British accent. Boy she screwed it really hard now. Turning around slowly Nicole's light brown eyes met the dark one of a tall and thin man not older then 19 with half of his hair dyed green. She tried to choke her giggles.

"Hey you! What the hell are you looking here? Who sent you?"

With this being said the green haired guy reached his hand and dragged her over the other, pulling her hood off her head while doing so. Coming back in her senses, she struggled out of his grip and grunted a few curses.

"Get your fuckin' hands offa me!" she barked at him while shooting a deep glare in his way. The man simply chuckled at her action.

"Oh yeah? Then I suggest you start squeaking some info, you spy. Who sent you?" By this time the man leaned dangerously close over her fragile figure. Boy, she felt the need to kick his balls, but she knew pretty well that she was to get in even more shit if she done so. Behind him the chatter continued, but another more softer voice was heard.

"Andy, calm down,pal. Let her talk."

Tilting her head all she was able to see were the straight and dark bangs of hair of another guy, much shorter then this Andy dude, but still taller then she was. Nicole rose one eyebrow at his sight; was he emo or something? Well, his hair and clothes showed it pretty clear, not to mention his soft and girly voice. She decided that English people were weird…

"Don't give me that bloody crap again. Do you know her? I don't. She must be a spy!"

That's it. She had enough.

"If I am a spy and feel free to shove that cheap hair dye up your ass!"

Well, some people chuckled, some rolled their eyes, some gasped. Anyway, it was oblivious Nicole pretty much messed with the wrong guy. Especially by his own reaction. Nicole could have sworn she heard his teeth clench inside his mouth. She gulped nervous.

"Why you little twerp!"

"Andy."

Silence. The emo guy was serious. And green guy shot her a glare and left. The ones around her began to chatter. As Andy turned around and walked away, he gave Nicole a much better view on the emo. From this point of view, he wasn't that bad looking after all. Of course the first thing she noticed were his brow eyes, much darker then her own but still too pretty to belong to a guy. Really, was he a guy after all? Well, the way he smiled surely didn't showed it.

"Hey, sorry for that. Andy can be like that around people he doesnt know."

"I can tell…" she mumbled as her eyes averted in the taller boy's direction. He was still glaring at her so she glared back. Her companion noticed it.

"call me Charlie'. He extended his hand to shake her own. Nicole did the same, but the instant their fingers touched she shook his hand only two times before taking it back and crawled her fingers in a fist, slamming it on his still open hand. Her eyes slightly narrowed; didn't he knew the signs? As a response, he simple chuckled.

"Guess you're an outsider. Give me your hand."

Opps…she forgot about that; of course they had different signs here. Giving back her hand, she saw as he shook it three times before wiggling his fingers againt her. This made her giggle.

"Isnt that a bit gay?" she asked with a smirk. Charlie shrugged.

"I guess, but that's how we do it here. So, what's your story?"

"Call me Nicky. New York. SMC. "

"Nice intro you have." The guy nodded his head in agreement. "So I guess you are in the very same industry, right?"

"you bet. And you?" Charlie hesitated.

"Not really." He said. "I combine parkour with dancing. I'm with the 1UP, you know. We all do that here."

"uh-huh…" she mumbled back. "I kinda heard of this stuff. Isnt that style called Suicido?"

"Pretty much, but that name makes it a lot scarier then it actually is."

Nicole giggled. Well, yeah, suicido was a lot more difficult to perform and it was much more spectacular, she felt slightly intimidated. But still, she came from a crew which made a reputation out of their agility, even if they had regular moves. Anyway, somehow, Nicole was burning to see a small demo of what they had.

"Can you show me some of your moves?"

Charlie chuckled and averted his eyes somewhere else for a few seconds. The teen figured he was pretty reserved when it came to dancing.

"Me? You are the outsider here. How about you show me some of your moves first?"

Shit…she totally forgot about that. Her smile faded away and she sighed deeply.

"Well, its not like im dancing anymore. I was kicked out of my crew." She admitted. Chalie's smile faded as well and his hand rose to scratch the back of his neck. It was oblivious that being renedaged of your family was a big tabu all over the world.

"Sorry to hear that…" he mumbled, slightly uncomfortable, but Nicky simple punched him in the shoulder.

"come on, its my shit, not yours." She chuckled. Charlie returned the gesture.

"But you still gotta dance. You can leave the streets, but the streets will never leave you."

Nicole's mouth dropped at this remark and her smile faded. Well, shit happens, right? This was the exact same thing she had been told by ankh when they were kids. Damn, she left like yelling and swearing out of frustration. She wasn't going to dance, she did not wanted to dance. Yet, the rubber carpet behind her companion seemed to be mocking her. It was more worn out then her own, probably only a few years older, but it was still in shape and ready for any move. The girl felt a knot in her throat; would she be still able to do that? In the next second, she was about to turn on her heels and leave without even saying good bye, but a strong and determined hand on her shoulder destroyed all her plans. Rising her eyes she saw the male next to her, smiling widely.

"Come on; it will be fun."

Fun. She haven't had fun while dancing in a really long time. And maybe this was exactly what she needed. Nicole lowered her head and smirked.

"Put 'Freestyle' in that playlist."

TO BE CONTINUED…

* * *

A/N: sorry for the late chappie again. . Anyway i think i lied a little; i said this chapter will have Nicole dancing yet no dancye dancye... Instead Nicole meets up with another crew! Well, from this point on might get really interesting o.o there will be only three words i will say: Drugs, dancing and danger.^^ Aint i evil? :P

Edit: corrected the mistakes i made . Thanks Aldredon for pointing them out! C:

Review please!


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter XIV – My Back hurts…

For the two of them, time was a totally different factor. Their hearts were beating just like any other human's yet, they never seem to age or fall ill, and unlike her, he never needed food water or sleep. It was as if the two of them were complete strangers to the notion of the passing second, minutes hours and so on. Hagi and Saya, by their own nature were unique beings; beings who never had to care about time, as it had no influence upon them. But, in this situation, she was worried it had passed already too much.

"30 minutes…" she whispered softly as she stopped and looked back. Nope, she wasn't there yet. Still, Saya wasn't showing any signs that she might have wanted to go back on her walk besides her chevalier. Hagi, as ever followed her every single move. If she stopped he would have stopped as well. Noticing her worried expression, he tried to suppress the impulse of narrowing his eyes and rubbing his temples. For Saya, this was the first time when Nicole ditched the, but for him this was the second time and he already began to fear what might have happened. His queen turned to face him.

"Hagi, she isn't coming. Do you think that something might have happened to her?"

Well, this was a rather tricky question. Last time something did happened to her, but the circumstances were so much more different. So, instead of answering to her question, he simply tilted his head in the direction the teen was seen to go.

"Do you want me to look for her?"

Saya's eyes blinked as she thought of the possibility. Well, Hagi might have been able to spot her quickly and bring her back as well, but she was unsure if Nicole would be happy with this. Being such a short-tempered person and the fact that she and Hagi weren't exactly best friends made the queen doubt herself. Well, she tried to look at the bright side; Nicole was 16 years old; old enough to be able to take care of herself right? Still, this was a city she didn't know and she already was late more then she said she would be. Sighing Saya rose her head to her companion.

"Well, i-"

Immediately her gaze had been drown towards the spot Hagi's eyes suddenly averted, making her leave her sentence unfinished. In the crown the running figure of Nicole had been spotted. It was obvious that she knew she was late and maybe she tried to make it up for her extra 15 minutes. But it was useless know, all she managed to do was exhaust herself. When the teen approach, Saya noticed that she was panting hard, her hoodie was now hanged around her waist and on her forehead and arms had small beans of sweat were rolling down. She rose an eyebrow at the sight; it wasn't possible that such a simple run to make her sweat that hard. But if wasn't the run, then what was it? When she finally caught her breath, Nicole rose her face and bit her lower dry lip a little, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Sorry I'm late." She managed to say between pants, but even so her voice was slightly more perkier compared to the bored and grumpy one she had just minutes ago. This was the first sign which actually made Hagi think what happened and changed her mood like that. Still, he choose to remain silent and left Saya do the talking.

"Nicole, where have you been? I was starting to get worried." She told her. The punk simply let out a small chuckle escape her lips and she wiped her forehead clean with the back of her palm.

"Just around the corner. Have you guys found a café? Im really damn thirsty."

With this being said, Nicole passed between Hagi and Saya and went for the shop, picking a random café and walking in its direction. Behind her, Saya and Hagi exchanged suspicious glances; none of them fully understood whatever had happened in the last half of hour. But he had a slight suspicion which he decided to keep for his own.

* * *

Inside her room, a thick could of cigarette smoke floated even if the window was wide open. Nicole was walking from one end to the other taking drag after drag from the toxic roll in her right hand, and exhaling the smoke seconds later. A side grin was spread over her features as she tried not to fall over all the junk on her room's floor. After a full day, she still haven't actually put her stuff away ever since it arrived in those packs. Still, she didn't seem to care about that. Excitement was written all over her face and it was obvious she tried to finish up her cig as quickly as possible. Inside her head, she rememorized that day's events over and over again.

'Freestyle' had such a good tune it was impossible not to improvise a little while dancing on it. After all, all dancers learned that they had to remember their moves only when they performed their shows in 'the streets'. But with this specific song things were much more different; no crew was ever able to made a synchronic dance together, only because each member simply felt the need to add or remove a move. Anyway, this was the magic of 'Freestyle', just as its name says. Every move must be free.

Just like her moves.

Nicole felt the rubber carpet under her body make funny noises as she bent down and, after a short jump she shifted her whole body weight on her right shoulder and the back of her neck. Her legs were up in the air and they were meant to keep her balance, while her right palm was touching the carpet, searching for another place to lend the weight of her legs. She remained like this only a fraction of a second, and when the sudden drum was heard, she jumped and her whole body was in mid air for a moment. When she hit the carpet again, Nicole made a roll and got to her feet in no time. As the bells started to clinch, she was already performing electric boogie moves only from her arms, as her legs remained unmoved. She was good at impersonating a hydraulic machine; mostly because it was one of her favorite things to dance. She didn't even had the need for a carpet, because she worked only with her upper body, turning and bending as if she was boneless, but still with the hint that the moves still belonged to a robot.

The bells stopped their clinking and once with them, she dropped her body, crawled into a ball and after a quick double spin on her hooded head, the girl simply lifted her whole body on her arms only. Her legs were averted before her and her whole body had the figure of an upside down 'L'. A sound resembling a whistle was heard and she dropped from her hand, hitting the ground with both her arms and legs at the same time. She remained unmoved in the form of an 'X'. The song just ended. The ones around her began to chatter and cheer for her. Nicole got to her feet in a jump and began panting lightly.

She had just danced again, and she was happy. Just like she once was when she danced with the SMC.

Giggling lightly to all the cheer she received, Nicole shifted her body weight from a leg to another and she unzipped her hoodie, hanging it to her waist. Her hair was a mess and she felt the cold sweat as it rolled down her back and forehead, yet this did not stopped her from a loud and victorious 'Whooo!' In the next second a laughing and clapping Charlie found his way around her, grabbed the girl by her neck and began to rub her already messy hair. She grabbed his arm and began to laugh as well.

"Girl, that was bloody awesome!" the emo told her once he let go. "I've never seen anything that quick in my whole life! You had done at least six styled in only…" he turned to check his watch. "..in like what? Five minutes?" he asked not believing his own eyes. Nicole simply shrugged as she started to gain a bit of her breath.

"That was actually my specialization." She stated as she placed her hands on her hips. "I can do faster though. But I kinda lost my touch lately." Charlie's mouth dropped.

"You can do it even _faster_!"

"Pretty much, yeah." The guy covered his hanging mouth as he chuckled astonished to himself. His head was shaking as if he was saying 'no way! No way!'

"how come you got kicked out? What you just did was so damn…fast! Girl, you really need to continue this." His hand reached out and touched her shoulder. Nicole couldn't help but smile slightly at all the compliments she was receiving. Somehow she felt slightly embarrassed, mostly because back home everything she received from Ankh was just a 'Well done'.

"How about you come around again?" Her eyes widened and she immediately brought them to eye his own. Her hands dropped on her sides, before rising her felt one and covering her mouth.

"You are fucking me around, aren't you!" she told him as she playfully punched the guy in his shoulder. He smiled and shook his head.

"Not one bit; feel free to come whenever you want. We are here everyday until 9 pm. All you need to do is ask people for me."

Nicole still couldn't believe it, and he wasn't surprised about this reaction. So, to make her relax a bit, he wrapped a hand around her and rubbed her a bit.

"Hey, come on, snap out of it!" he said in a 'wake-up-call' tone. As a response she began to laugh.

"Man, this is sick; I don't know if I can-"

"Girl, come on; don't make me feel bad now. From now on think of yourself as part of my family."

* * *

'Family' became a term she almost forgot in one week ever since she moved in Gray's house. Yet, now she felt revived and ready o go on for it with Charlie and his pals, maybe even join their crew! Nicole simply laughed out the smoke in her lungs at the mere thought. Then again, why was she smoking? Well, maybe because it felt almost too good to be true, and a strong cig always made her snap back to reality.

But this was indeed her reality!

The teen jumped in mid air twice before throwing the smoked out cig outside the window and running her now free hands through her hair. Just then, it stabbed her, right through her lower back. A sharp pain, as if a dagger had been inflicted in her body. Nicole stopped out of her little manifestation and rubbed the painful area a bit. Well, it had been a while since she danced, not to mention use such complex moves as she did today. Maybe her body didn't grew used with this sudden outburst. Well, who cared? After all, she was back on track, meaning she was to dance again! So the smile did not disappeared from her lips…even if it hurt her like a bitch.

Her ears picked a few knocks on her door and her eyes suddenly in it's direction. "shit!" she hissed as she realized that her room was still filled with the thick smoke. Nicole tried, but it was useless to wave a piece of cloth around the room and hope that it would make the smoke go out faster. So she grunted and made it to the door tripping over another item while doing so.

"stupid bed…" she mused as she leaned onto the door. "Who's there?" she asked as normally as she was able to ask.

"Hagi. Please open the door, Nicole."

The teen froze in her place. It was…WHO?

At first she didn't knew how to react; frustrated, nervous, angry or just ..normal? which pretty much meant all of the above combined? Nicole pondered a second her options, before gulping loudly and taking a deep breath. Maybe he was there to announce her about dinner or something, because it was a pretty late hour already. So, with a little 'creaking' noise, she opened the door wide enough to only peak her head out and stare at the man before her. Even if she never truly saw any hint emotions of his features ever since she arrived there, this time he made her feel as if there was a hole in her stomach. In fewer words, she thought he might have been pissed. And she miserably failed to hide her frustration and anticipation.

"Er..'sup?"

"We need to talk." Her eyes grew wide. "May I come in?"

"…eh?"

"It is best if we discuss in private."

She hated when he had a point. It was obvious that he wanted to interrogate her upon her being late that day. Well, for Nicole it was also obvious that he pretty much lost the trust he had in her. Still, she immediately obeyed and got out of his way, allowing him into her quarters. And entered he did.

As Hagi stepped inside her room, he took notice of that happened around. First of all, it was messy beyond human limits. As his eyes averted on the floor, he could have swore he saw items of lingerie thrown around the place, along with magazines, other clothes, markers, papers, pillows and many other things which he decided not to take notice of. The second thing he noticed was the smell; it was a very closed and thick smell around her room, despite the window being widely open. Hagi narrowed his eyes as he picked up one specific smell. He went towards the small desk in her room, the one right under the window and saw an improvised ashtray, full of smoked out cigs. He couldn't help but throw an accusing look towards the female in the room.

"You have been smoking." He stated somehow irritated. Nicole only shrugged and digged her hands in her pockets.

"Those are from a few days ago, when I had the fight with Kai." She mumbled as she avoided his gaze. "I only took one drag now…"

"…"

Really...was that the best excuse she was able to come up with? Did she took it as if she stole cookies or something? Hagi's expression never changed as he took a step towards her.

"That is not a reason." He stated as calm as possible.. Nicole rolled her eyes.

"I know the idea, ok? Chill, I don't smoke everyday! Cut out the crap and say what the heck you want!" she replied sharp as she leaned her body forward and shot him a deep glare.

By this time, he started to understand her a little; now she was starting to become defensive behind a shield of… offensiveness? It was rather weird, but this was her method. The man decided to quit the subject about smoking and went right to the subject. Taking another few steps towards her small, yet narrowed and tense figure, he stopped about two or three feet away. No need to attack her personal space as well.

"Nicole, why had you been late today?" he asked monotone, with no hint of emotion whatsoever. Nicole simply grunted and rolled her eyes, averting them afterwards in some other direction.

"Does it matter? I came back and I am in one piece." She mused rather sarcastic referring to the fact that no one punched her, unlike her first escapade.

"It does matter."

Nicole's eyes turned towards him with a hint of a glare in her gaze. Of course, he continued;

"You have full trust in me that I shall not uncover your secret. In exchange I only want to know the truth about where and what you had been doing while you were away."

Say **WHAT? **

"I honestly think it is a fair for both of us. Not to mention, it is also safer."

Again; say **WHAT?**

"So I will ask you again, why had you been late today?"

Nicole's mouth dropped open, her eyes widened and she felt a vein popping in her temple. Ok, this was NOT happening. He had not just said what she thought she heard! This was incredible….

The teen had now a baby-sitter.

That if she wanted to go on with her out-goings and stuff and him to shut up about them. GOD! This was so unfair! What in the world would he have to gain about all of this now? Well, it earned her nothing more but another big, fat HEADACHE. The girl was sure as hell she wasn't going to shut up and comply with this.

"Like HELL I would!" she shouted in his face as she closed the space between them by a foot or so. "Listen you deep-shit; I don't know what sect you are part of, but this is my life and I don't give a fuck about what you think about me! You have no right to interrogate me about MY business, GOT IT!"

With each word, she got closer and closer, to the point that even in her rage she was able to feel the warmth of Hagi's breath against her nose and cheeks. No wonder she felt something tickling her. But by the time she realized it, she already withdraw her face and frowned deeply before him, hands crossed at her chest and everything. Seeing that she wasn't going to get a reply too soon, she said the first thing which came in her mind, as a conclusion.

"You wanna know where the heck I go huh? Well, come stalk me cause I aint telling you a shit!"

…and she gave Hagi the finger.

…and there was silence.

And silence.

And some more silence.

Until her closed her fist and withdraw 'the finger' with a small 'hm!" waiting his reply. Which, surprisingly came a lot faster then she imagined it would.

"Very well then."

…and there was silence.

"**WHAT**?"

"It is agreed then; I shall come with you from now on."

Wait a minute, that was NOT what she meant.

Nicole couldn't suppress a huge grunt and annoyance, along with a nervous ran of her fingers through her brown hair while taking a few steps around the room.

"You will NOT!" she barked at him. "God, what is it so hard to understand?"

"You are hard to understand."

How subtle he was…A true gentleman. Well, the teen gave up already; a long sigh and yet another ran of her fingers through her hair.

"Get out of my room." Nicole almost breathed out as she closed her eyes. There was no use to even think that she and Hagi would ever have a normal talk, not in moments such as these. They were too different to even understand what one meant when she or he spoke with the other. But at least he understood that she gave up and with a small almost unnoticeable sigh ,e closed his eyes and well and tilted his head forward. Well, there was one thing they agreed upon;

"I see, sorry for my disturbance."

And then he passed her and left.

Nicole grabbed a pillow and screamed into it. Still, the muffled sound was enough to make a few birds fly away from a branch near her window. She collapsed into her bed, with her face still hidden in the fluffy item, but then a small moan was heard. A hand rose and rubbed the painful area.

"Oh…my back…"

TO BE CONTINUED…

* * *

A/N:Finally, some alone time between Hagi and Nicole! Confusing? Eh, not really, this chappie is pretty obvious :3 Nicole got accepted ina a brand new crew even if it isnt really official, and Hagi will be stalking her. :P Eh, well not really, he wont but he wants to know her safe. I think the best way to describe the feeling might be that after the nasty wound she got he thinks that she cant take care of herself and stuff. I know i would think the same if i was him o.o Anyway, please tell me if he is ooc or anything, ok?

Anyway, next chapter will contain some more music :3 r&r please!


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter XV – Mutual Language

Couldn't she just bring herself to reality for a little change? Couldn't she leave for just a few moments all her stubbornness and rage and try to understand things? In fewer words, couldn't she be reasonable? Somehow, the chevalier thanked god Saya was the only female he had accompanied all these years. Saya was much more serious, dedicated and she was honorable and Hagi never regretted a second while he was in her duty. But Nicole was her total opposite. She was short-tempered, she had no goals and she was a walking disaster. The 16 year old _smoked._ And not even one second she understood how toxic and harmful it was for her. Her excuse was that she did not smoked everyday, which wasn't an excuse at all. She was a lost cause and nothing more in his eyes.

Yet, somehow he felt the need to know her safe.

Maybe it was because of all these flaws of hers. Yet, if you come to think more deeply about them, maybe they weren't flaws all the time. Maybe she actually _enjoyed_ being the way she was, thus she did not want to change herself or accept new principles. Nicole wasn't truly a girl, she was a young woman, or so she considered herself, and she manifested a rejection for the protection, idea or anything else which came from a male. Maybe this did not made her stubborn and short-tempered. Maybe it made her a strong person.

Still, there was much more which she hid behind a mask of anger and sometimes superficiality and all this thinking only made the chevalier want to uncover more. Nicole was the first female who stood up so proud to the point where she became annoying before rules and laws. Hagi almost had an attempt to chuckle when he remembered the few times when Mao tried something similar, but it was incomparable with the current situation.

The pale man stood at the window with his eyes averted somewhere outside. Only two hours parted him from the midnight and a warm summer rain dropped gently on the ground. Hagi was in deep thought, and the smooth sound of the rain only helped him think better. He was thinking about her, when he knew that she might as well only curse him in her mind before throwing the same words in his face as well. Still, he wasn't offended by such words; they only made him rather curious. Despite the nasty words she said to him, the chevalier had only one mild interest in what that middle finger meant, but he shook it away quickly. Knowing the orphan it might have meant something equally gross as what she threw in his face.

So the man simply emptied his mind and closed his eyes, enjoying the sound of the rain. Somehow, he needed a little relaxation, even if he never felt tired or sleepy. And this was the perfect way to gain it. As he sat in his chair right besides the window, he let his forehead rest against the cool glass and reopened his eyes slowly to witness the small mark his breath left on it's surface. He rose a bandaged hand and wiped it clean before closing his eyes once more. Small things, which meant so much, in his view. After all, in the last week or so, there was no chiropteran activity around, yet only Saya was granted with rest, sleeping as much as she was able to and eating nutritious food, while he stood tall and tense as always, his guard up and ready to strike whenever there was the need to. He had been like this for so long, Hagi almost forgot how it felt to simply let your mind drift away from all problems. He felt his body soften and his chiropteran hand fell into his lap, the sound of the rain still filling his eras.

But then he heard something else. Another soft and calm tune which seemed so far away, as if he was only dreaming it. But that was impossible; even like this, in his relaxed state, falling asleep was impossible for a chevalier. Still, Hagi found himself enjoying the soft and short sounds. It seemed as if it belonged to an instrument with strings, but one which was played without a bow. His closed eyes slightly narrowed when the sounds intensified before finally fluttering open. He blinked a couple of times as his gaze met the view outside, along with a pale hint of his own reflection in the glass. The man withdraw his forehead from the cold window and stared around in his dark, barely lit room. Saya was still sleeping and the sounds he thought he heard stopped.

Was it truly a dream? No, he was sure about it; he was conscious and he heard it for real. Yet, now the room was mute and everything indicated him that the music he heard never existed.

Hagi parted his lips and allowed a small sigh to escape between them before he rose his head and continued his previous actions; gazing outside. He admired the pale moon which, even if it was raining, it still showed up between the clouds. A pale and shiny crescent moon, perfect in any way and beautiful as ever. It was one of the few things which was to hang there, in the sky for the rest of time, just like him and his queen.

The chevalier slowly found himself tilting his head forward again, until his forehead touched the glass again. His eyelids were heavy and they threatened to close until between the drops of the rain the music made itself heard once more. His eyes snapped open; this time he was sure that he heard it. The tune was faint enough not to wake anyone up, yet this time it was more energetic, but with gaps between the notes every now and then, as if the one who played it was unsure. Turning his head around, Hagi faced the wall behind him and concentrated. His sharp senses identified the source of the music somewhere behind that wall, where Nicole's room was located.

The irony… Hagi truly didn't knew what to do.

Somehow, he was curious to see her play, but then again, she threw him out last time. Her conversation with Saya from a few days ago replayed in his mind. The orphan mentioned something about attending an art school back in her home town as well as studying the guitar. He never had the chance to play such an instrument, yet it's sounds were distinct and clear; it was an acoustic guitar.

Maybe he was curious, maybe he had the want, the need to reproach Nicole that her playing at that hour might awoken everyone up; he didn't knew exactly, but Hagi rose from his seat and soundlessly traveled the room, exited it and went in front of Nicole's. His hand rose and he had an attempt to knock, but he was afraid that if he done so, she would stop playing and he would miss the chance of seeing her play. So the man done something rather rude; he opened the door with less sound as possible and peaked his head inside, resting his eyes on the orphan's figure.

The room was barely lit by the lamp on the small drawer besides her bed, but he was able to see her figure sitting on the chair of her own desk, though her feet were _on_ the desk as well. She seemed pretty comfortable with the light brown guitar in her lap and Hagi spotted before the guitar a piece of paper of well which had written with a terrible hand writing several words. The chevalier entered her room and closed the door behind with the same silence before getting closer and closer to the girl. He made sure that he remained in a point her his shadow was not in her path but he still had a good view upon the girl, which was too absorbed by her actions to notice him. Still, this proved to be false when he picked up the slight buzzing of music in the headphones digged in her ears. Tilting his head to a side, he picked up several things written on the paper.

"Why was I one of the chosen ones?

Until the fight I could not see?

The magic and the strength of my power

Was beyond my wildest dreams

Dark wings, they are descending!

See shadows gathering around,

One by one, by are falling

Every time they just strike us down~

Don't you die on me,

You haven't made your peace~

You little life

Breathe, breathe!

Don't you die on me,

-"

The rest of the text was unreadable because of the messy mass of hair which was sticking out of Nicole's head and blocked Hagi's view. Still, when he saw her head rocking back and forth along with her right foot on the rhythm of the music which came from her hands tweaking the strings, he made all the connections. Nicole was trying to play the same song she had playing in her headphones on the guitar only. The lyrics were her 'landmarks' and the many pauses she made indicated that she was having trouble with finding what beat of the actual sound to follow. Yet, she managed to create a nice tune, even if it wasn't 'flowing' the way it should. Still, as Hagi withdrew his body, he grew a small amount of admiration for her effort. It is pretty hard for someone to learn to play a song after another one, the way she done it. The girl simply listened and then transformed in a matter of milliseconds the tune she heard in a tune she played herself. The man was unable to see her face as well so he had no idea if she had trouble with playing it or not.

Still, she was talented. Talented enough not to be bothered by matters as small as his curiosity. So Hagi spun on his heels and went without hesitation towards the door. Now, that he knew she was listening to music in her headphone, there was no need to struggle not to make that much sound. Not to mention, the man was quite by his own nature.

As he grabbed the door handle, he opened the door. In that instant the buzzing stopped. His heart skipped a beat when he heard the creaking sound of the old wood. A sound too loud not to be noticed, even with headphones on. Damn.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Isnt that something you will not see everyday? The mighty and solemn chevalier had been caught in flagrant, and honestly he didn't knew if he had an explication from practically sneaking up in her room without her knowledge. Hagi found himself gulping before he slowly turned around to face Nicole. He was expecting a dark, twisted and very pissed off face from the girl, yet she seemed to be rather bored, or maybe even tired. Still, annoyance was still planted in her half opened eyes. Turning around completely, Hagi tried to stay calm, which unsurprisingly he succeeded. Now, the question was, should he tell her the naked truth?

"I knocked a couple of times, but you didn't respond so I took myself the right to enter. I was leaving now."

Somehow, it wasn't a true lie; even if he knocked Hagi was sure that she wouldn't have heard with the music in her eras. Nicole rose an eyebrow and tilted his head forwards a bit.

"you did?" she asked somehow surprised. Hagi only nodded, being stoic as ever. He had just been saved.

Nicole rose the hand who's finger's ran over the strings and rubbed her face with a long sigh. She was definitely tired, every move betrayed her of that aspect. Placing his feet down n the floor, the girl grabbed the paper, crumble it and threw it on the desk, while placing with great care the guitar on the floor. Hagi had the chance to see it better now, and noticed how old it seemed.

"What do you want?" she asked while pinning her chin on the palm on her head, her elbow on her knee. She was definitely pissed about this, but she was too tired to make a scene again, or so concluded the man. Well, he could say a low 'nothing important' and then turn to leave, yet that would be another lie, which Hagi wasn't sure he could say. After all, she did believed him about the knocking thing and it would be shameless to lie again.

"I heard music coming from your room." He stated after a few moments of silence. He never dared to try and take a step towards her, remaining unmoved in front of the now closed door. "I thought it threatened to wake the other up so I came to ask you to stop. Yet, I realized it half way that-"

"Whoa, wait a minute" she cut him off. "You say that, you heard me?"

Well, this was the part which she thought it was most important? Hagi nodded at her question, and the girl grunted under her breath a few curses.

"Damn, next time, make sure to knock louder!" She did not like it when people heard her play. This was the exact reason why she played at late hours. But creatures such as Hagi, who never slept were her audience. Still, he did not understood why she seemed to be so reserved with this topic. Her eyes averted from his figure and he managed to take a couple of steps towards her.

"are you embarrassed by this topic?" he asked monotone after several seconds of silence. Nicole rolled her eyes and he never received an answer. Still, he was going to insist.

"You play well." He stated in his smooth voice. Voice which made her look up to him. "It was sick."

Say….what?

* * *

"_You play well." She said quickly before her eyes ran again at the cello._

"_Thank you."_

"_No really! That was…sick."

* * *

_

Nicole's eyes slightly widened when she heard him say that. The girl to admit, she didn't knew what surprised her more; the fact that Hagi remembered what 'sick' meant in her own vocabulary or that he actually used the word. Having a man like him say something so out of style was at least weird, but, even in her tired state the teen managed to read between the lines. So, instead of an sarcastic, ironic insult she parted her lips and replied almost politely.

"Thank you…"

"You don't need to. It is true." Hagi told her back as he took another step. At this point, Nicole had to keep her head up as if looking at the sky, to manage and stare at his figure. Damn those perfect blue orbs of his… for a second she almost thought she felt tired no more while she stared at him and he stared back. Still, the moment was too short for her to think anything else, because the man before her blinked, fact which made her blink and avert her eyes from him as well.

"you are tired, I can tell. You would better rest."

Nicole ran a hand through her hair.

"I aint that tired." She mumbled, but just then a long and deep yawn escaped her lips. She stopped mid way thought, and cursed between her teeth. "Ok, maybe I am a bit tired." She mused as she rubbed her upper arms.

"Then I shall leave you sleep."

Before the girl had a chance to rise her eyes, Hagi was already at the opened door. Her lips parted to protest, but she was cut off by his words.

"good night Nicole." The girl hesitated but then gesticulated carelessly with one hand.

"Yeah..'night."

And then he was gone, leaving behind only the small noise the door made when it closed. Nicole stared for several seconds at the doorway, before allowing herself to strength her arms above her head. He was right, she was tired. And she hated when he was right. But what was she to do? Today's dancing proved to be more exhausting then she expected. Well, she was also a bit out of her shape ever since she had been kicked out. Still, the thought of going to sleep before 11;00pm made her somehow pissed. When was the last time she slept before midnight? Well, she couldn't remember, but it was truly a long time ago. Yet, she couldn't feel her legs. This was a bad sign. She hated it, she really did, but he was right; she needed her rest.

Carefully stepping over the guitar, the girl collapsed on her cool bed without even bothering to change her attire. In her view, changing her clothes was nothing more but another waste of energy, energy which she couldn't really afford to loose right now. So she simply closed her eyes and it wasn't long enough until sleep claimed her body. But her mind remained sober for several minutes after this happened. And even if she wouldn't really remember it in the morning, Nicole thought about the man who played the cello in the garden a little while ago, until her mind shut itself up as well.

Inside his room, Hagi was staring out the window once more. His thoughts flew a few days ago as well at the memory of him playing the cello and her sneaking up to him. The man couldn't help but find the many similarities between that moment and the one which just ended. Maybe, just maybe they weren't as different as the eye let them see; just then he realized that in a way or another they spoke the same language, even if it was a different dialect.

Allowing his eyes to close again, Hagi listened to the sound of the still dripping rain but inside his mind the tune Nicole created played over and over again.

TO BE CONTINUED…

* * *

A/N: Well, this came out pretty fast o.o Even if it wasnt quite what i expected it to be, i just had to write it! Hope i caught Hagi there pretty in character . I became paranoiac with not making him ooc... Anyway, consider this chapter the one thing to balance all the roughness the next one will come up with(is it even right to say it like this? o.o) Anyway, while i was writing this, it was night time and outside was raining, so i guess i felt a little poetic too :3

Please comment, and if you have any suggestion, dont be afraid to spil them out ^^ I will try to post the other chapters as quick as i did with this one.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter XVI – More Than Meets The Eye

Rain is inspirational for any kind of artist, mostly because it can mean so many things. A smooth and light summer rain means relaxation and serenity, a torrential autumn rain means rage and destruction, the rain which falling between the sun rays is a reason to be happy. Still, the rain which fell over Gray's house in London was something which barely told anyone anything about what it meant. The big drops hit the ground in a straight angle, for there was no rain, and the water wasn't either cold or warm. The only emotion it made everyone around the house feel was boredom, because it hadn't stopped in almost two full days.

About two nights ago, Nicole had her unexpected visit from the stoic chevalier and, to be honest, the next morning she began to question herself if it was real or if she dreamt of it. Either way, it was also true that the girl hesitated to insult or even talk with Hagi these two days. She even showed signs of guilt at certain moments when they bumped one into another on the corridors, or when she missed her room and entered Saya's. Anyway, Nicole had been very emotive and thus she showed her emotions like that. She guessed that the one to blame was the weather alone.

Now, it was the dawn of the second day since the rain started, and it showed sighs of 'emotion'. A strong wind blew, the drops cooled down and fell on the ground full of force. Gray was in the living room, reading a two days old paper. He had read it at least seven times until now, yet there wasn't anything better to read around the house, mostly because none of them bothered to go outside and buy a new one. Only Kai went one to buy some bread, but other then that they had enough food and anything else they might have needed while they were blocked inside.

But, really now, who would have guessed how important it was for an old man such as himself to read the daily paper? If they knew this, it was pretty obvious that they would have bought subscription or something.

Gray sighed deeply as he folded back the paper after reading two pages and placed it on the coffee table, before leaning back into the cough his hands resting on his knees. His eyes slowly averted somewhere outside the window; it was noisy enough not to notice if someone called on him or something. Still, it wasn't like they did not know where he was, the man spent hours in the living room when he had nothing better to do. Like fishing, for example. Actually he was planning a fishing trip, but because of the weather they had to cancel it. Too bad, his fishing rods rested somewhere in the warehouse, being ignored once again. The funny thing was that he somehow used to enjoy rain and there were many memories which were connected with this kind of climate. But now it simply bored him to the point where it became truly annoying.

"Mr Gray?"

His eyes traveled the room until they met Monique's. "Yes?" he responded as leaned forward again. The girl's face inwardly turned upstairs for a second before she decided how to state this.

"I am rather worried for the new girl, Nicole. She wont come out of her room unless it's breakfast or dinner time, but she is always late and never eats with us." The blond grabbed her upper right arm with her felt hand and began to rub it nervously. "I haven't even seen any laundry from her ever since she came here. It's almost like she doesn't even exist."

Gray's gaze moved from her eyes when she finished and stared empty at the old carpet on the floor. Monique was right, Nicole was always in her room sitting there all day and night long all by herself. The man didn't knew what to think of this, because whatever it was, it made the girl always hurry back in whenever she got out to eat. Curious enough, none of the rooms had TVs or radios, so maybe she kept herself entertained with something of her own. Gray did recalled the fact that she received some packs from her tutor, but he highly doubted he sent her something so…addicting? When his gaze moved up towards the girl, he saw how concerned she was about the orphan. How could he comfort her? It wasn't like he was able to obligate Nicole to get out of there or something. Sighing, he tried to think of other possibilities, and only one popped in his mind.

"Monique, please do not forget that Nicole had suffered a great trauma a few months ago." He told the girl while her eyes slightly widened confused. Rising from his seat, Gray walked over to some drawers and pulled out one file from one of them. "come." He motioned towards his companion as she obeyed. In his hands he held Nicole's documents; her birth certificate, her identification card, along with some paper work to justify her stay in his house and the act which proved she was an orphan. There were also some notifications about her tutor, Cornelius Benton. She blond stared at the papers blankly, not knowing what to truly understand.

"I have studied these several times now. Two months ago, her father and mother died in a severe car incident and she had been left in the hands of her mother's brother, Nicole's uncle Cornelius Benton. This is the actual man I am intrigued in." Gray stated as he sat down on the couch followed close by Monique.

"What is it about him?" she asked curiously.

"Cornelius Benton owns a small but profitable business in a rental company. You know, those old rent-a-cat services? This is exactly what he does for a living. And it seems his services are quite professional, because in New York only, there are seven offices which he takes care of himself."

"So I see he is a very responsible person…" Monique almost stated as she tilted her head forward a little. Gray's serious expression never changed.

"and he is pretty wealthy as well; he owns two apartments, a flat near the city center and a Lexus. Not to mention he has several bank accounts."

"I'm sorry sir, but I don't really understand."

Gray's eyebrows slightly narrowed when she took Cornelius's picture from Monique's hands and stared at it for several seconds. Nicole's tutor was a tall and very elegant man; dressed in a green suit, his dark brown haired was combed backwards with a ridiculous amount of hair gel and his eyes were half closed and staring at the old man with apparent kindness. His face had rough features, just like a man in his early 40s. Just like any other businessman, yet, Gray couldn't help but think there was more hiding behind the imagine he was staring at.

"Upon studying all of these, I cant help but wonder; why did Cornelius considered himself 'inapt' to raise this girl, when it is obvious that he held all conditions to take care properly until she was 18?"

A small moment of silence filled the room as the blond besides him widened her eyes a little. "Sir, you don't think that-"

**KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!**

The lighting and thunder outside synchronized and the figures of Gray and Monique disappeared for a second under the white flash of the electric power. The girl was unable to suppress a small scream of surprise and shock while the man simply jumped in his seat on the couch. The next second, the dim, soft yellow light which filled the living room faded suddenly, along with every other source of light or electric device which was located in the house.

Gray blinked his eyes several times, as they adjusted to the darkness which took over the place. From upstairs three distinct voices were heard, all of them belonging to females. Mao screamed as if she saw a serial killer in her shower, Javier started to cry and the new orphan yelled 'shit' out of the top of her lungs. A second later, Kai also shouted a rhetorical 'what the hell is going on?' before he heard several crashes coming from the garage. The old man sighed deeply; they were all over reacting. It was only a small blackout caused by the storm; no need to shout, scream and cry as if it was the end of the world, even if the darkness around pretty much made it feel that way. Besides him, Monique held a hand over her chest as she panted lightly. By this time, the old man's eyes were ok with the black before them and he was able to see the shadowed figure of the blond.

"w-what happened?" she asked between pants. He simply placed a hand over her shoulder.

"Don't worry, it's a simple blackout of electricity." He assured her. "Do you have your cell phone with you?" Monique immediately took the device out of his pocket and clicked a button, it's screen lighting up.

"Please go check on Javier and calm her down."

"Oh-ok…"

Monique rose and made herself way unsure out of the living room using the cell phone's light to light up her way and not bump into things. Meanwhile, the old man gathered the files and blindly made himself way back to the drawers where he pulled the out of, grabbing a small and old flashlight instead. It was pretty old, so he had a rather hard time in actually making it light the place properly. Even so, the light was very dim and he was unable to see things clearly. But it was a light nonetheless. While he pointed it around the room, the wet figure of Kai came into view.

"Are you alright?" the man asked. Kai groaned and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I kinda made a mess in the garage when the lights went out. But I'll live." He responded as he got closer. Gray noticed that he wasn't just wet, he was fully soaked.

"I guess the rain isn't getting close to an end." He mused slightly amused.

"Yeah, pretty much. Do you have a towel?"

"Come." Gray moved from his spot towards the kitchen. Under the sink in a kitchen cabinet, he took out an oil lamp which he lit with a small match. Grabbing it he passed it to the younger male and motioned towards the first floor. "Take this and go upstairs, there are some towels in the dresser. Call the others down as well."

* * *

Meanwhile, Nicole just experimented a new extreme sport; the backwards jump on one foot while holding a guitar then landing on the bed, rolling on your side and then finally falling head first on the floor, while the guitar remained intact. What? It really was an extreme sport! No one knew how much adrenaline passed through the girl's body while she done that, mostly out of fear to not break her instrument! They should held championships about this! Just imagine what a shit load of money they would get from the spectators who wished to see the contestants doing that shit!

The girl got up and inspected her lovely guitar. Nothing broke; that is a good thing. She placed it aside, in a safe place and then she began to complain about herself, cursing out loud and rubbing her head like there was no tomorrow. God that hurt…. She opened her eyes, but she saw nothing. She blinked then a few times, but she saw nothing. Her mouth dropped open and her heart skipped a beat.

"OH MY FUCKING GOD, I GONE BLIND!"

Adrenaline can also make you scream things before you have the chance to think about them…

* * *

Just outside her room, Kai jumped two feet in the air when she heard a certain orphan's scream. And as a result, because of the lack of light he lose his balance when he made contact with the floor under his feet and ended up crushing his skull into Nicole's door. Well the irony made the door open, but luckily Kai got to his feet before his face would make contact with the floor too. Inside, Nicole closed tight her eyes at the sudden wave of yellow light which came from the male's oil lamp. She placed her palms before her face and grunted a curse or two, but a second later realization hit her as well.

"Wait…im not blind?"

Kai rubbed his head before snapping his eyes open to meet the face of a confused girl. "What the hell are you screaming for!" he barked at her while shooting the girl a piercing glare. She simply rose and eyebrow.

"Kai? What the HECK are you doing in my room!"

"Oh, SHUT UP! It's just a blackout! The light went out!"

Nicole took herself a minute or two to process the info she just received. The only valuable conclusion she reached was that she wasn't blind, and that she freaked out for nothing, which probably made Kai to rush in her room and snap out of his pants because she screamed and then he screamed at her and…actually it was just a blackout.

"Really?" the girl asked frankly as she rose her eyebrows still confused. But the male before didn't seem to have as much patience as she thought he might have. Slapping a hand over his face, he simply got out of the doorway and pointed outside.

"Get down in the living room. NOW."

Nicole almost tripped in her own feet again as she tried to obey. Well, the adrenaline still haven't run out, because in her rush she didn't had enough time to think of what she was doing. Why? She actually tripped over her own foot, she banged her head in the door when she closed it AND grabbed her guitar as well, bringing it downstairs with herself. Only when she arrived in the lobby she realized that she was carrying it with her.

"Dammit." She grunted as she turned to go upstairs and leave her guitar there as well, but as soon as she rose her first foot she tripped and hit her head on the railing. Again. Why? No light anywhere close.

She rolled on her belly while still laying on the stairs and rubbed her forehead. Ok, this was getting out of hand. Her head was something valuable; she couldn't just go around hitting it on every dam thing around her. From that moment on, Nicole decided to be much more careful with her head, and not hit it around wherever she went. Just then another light was pointed on her figure.

"Nicole? What are you doing there?"

Turning her head, she saw the big figure of the old man, Gray pointing a flashlight over her. Still, he was kind enough not to point it in her eyes.

"Just…rolling around…" the girl answered sarcastic as she rose to her feet, grabbed the neck of her guitar and carefully descended the couple of stairs she lied on.

"You should be more careful, the man reproached her."

"Eh, don't worry I have a hard head." The irony. "Anyway, what just happened."

"Nothing serious, the light just went out. The problem is that I only have this flashlight and the lam Kai has. We need to stay together until the lights will come again. Come" he told the girl as Gray made himself way back in the living room. Nicole nodded and followed close by, dragging the instrument after her. As he sat down on the couch, the girl followed and sat across the coffee table, on the opposite couch. With care, she placed the guitar at her feet and crossed her arms sighing deeply.

For gray, that was the very first moment when he realized she had it. He would have never guessed that she actually played an instrument, even if he read it in her file, she never really seemed to be the type who would like such things. In the darkness of the room, he was unable to see exactly what kind of guitar it was, so he decided to ask her directly about it.

"You play the guitar?" he asked with a small smile curving his lips. Nicole flinched a little at the sound of his voice. Shit, she had to expect something like that to come; what in the world was in her head when she brought that thing with her? Well, absolutely NOTHING for that matter, but she blamed the blackout and Kai for scarring her and making her act so quick she had to time to think. Scratching her nose nervously, Nicole shifted in her seat.

"Yeah…kinda." She replied frankly. This was a topic she wasn't the most comfortable to discuss about. He was oblivious to her embarrassment.

"I've never heard you play it until now. It there something wrong with the strings?"

"I guess I simply forgot about it a little." She replied still avoiding his gaze. Gray nodded.

"I see."

From the old man's point of view, this was rather strange, so he remained silent afterwards. Still, he couldn't help but analyze what the girl told him and doubt it deeply. He had learned long ago how to play the piano. Gray re-called the time when he was in his early 20s, a young man who just finished his superior studies at the college. By that time, he learned how to play an instrument as a hobby, mostly because it was one of the few things which helped him relax with all the stress which got to him, and he was no pro, but it was a small little something which meant a lot to him. Several years later, the death of his father injected more pain in his veins then the strongest venom on earth. From that period of time, he couldn't remember anything clearly. Anything except one thing. He remembered the way he locked himself in his home and played hours and hours at the piano every single song he knew over and over again. It was as if his whole body auto-programmed itself to act like that, taking advantage of the only thing which helped him overcome events.

And Gray was sure this was no coincidence. Every musician who played an instrument with all their heart and soul would have done the same. Yet, Nicole sat before him and said she 'simply forgot about it'. How was that even possible? Wasn't she a dedicated musician? Gray had no right to judge her like that, because just like he said earlier, he never heard her play. It was true, her file said that she studied the guitar, but if she studied it in school, it was pretty possible for her to actually play it only in the paper, and not reality. The old man shook his head as he dropped his eyes. This was a little to much for someone as old as himself….

"Mr Gray?"

He immediately opened his eyes and averted them at the exit of the living room. Monique stood there with a lit up white candle in her hand, while the other one held the small palm of Javier. The little girl had a frightened face and she was shaking lightly. As soon as she spotted him, she ran over at him and threw her arms around his neck.

"I'm scared…" she admitted. Gray rubbed her back and pulled her in his lap.

"It's ok, I'm here." He smiled from under his mustache as he pat her head.

"Ok, anyone care to explain what in the world happened here?"

Everyone in the room rose their eyes and stared at the slim and slightly annoyed figure of Mao. When she noticed her, Nicole could only roll her eyes; boy she grew to dislike this particular female. In her view Mao was nothing more but a little spoiled chick. In fact, she never actually bothered to ask why was she here? Well, considering this was some kind of orphanage, maybe she was just like her, but Nicole rejected the idea right away. No, she remembered she heard once or twice her voice while she talked to hell knew who, and she mentioned once something about a 'daddy'. Well, unless it was her pimp, then Mao wasn't there for the same reason Nicole was. So the teen just decided to ignore her 'great entry' thing. On the other side, Monique offered the info she demanded right away.

"It's just a mere blackout, because of the storm. It's better for us to stay here until it will pass." She explained as she caught the sight of Kai descending the stairs. Mao averted her eyes in the same direction as well.

"and why isn't anybody going to fix it? Kai!"

"What? Why me?" the male protested as soon as he heard his name being called. The brown haired girl was about to shoot a reply, but Gray's deep voice interrupted them.

"Enough, you two. Monique, what about David?"

When her ears picked up the name, Nicole became suddenly more interested. This David guy was someone she heard them talk several times now, but she had never seen him in person. Apparently his room was always locked or something like that, he almost never came down to eat, and he drank a lot. Inwardly, her eyes averted towards the blond also waiting for an answer.

"I…haven't went in his room at all. I guess he might be sleeping."

Ah, the irony. Don't you just hate when someone you are eager to see wont come out of their cave not even when it rains and the lights went out? Just wonderful. Nicole collapsed in the sofa with a small sigh. Maybe next time.

"Again? Is that man even human anymore?" Mao interrupted once more as she placed her hands on her hips and made herself way towards the couch the punk was sitting on. Still, Nicole was happy that she made sure to stay in the other end, as far as possible from herself.

"Don't be so rough with him, Mao. You know none of us are in full shape at the moment." Nicole's interest rose once more at the sound of Kai's sighing voice. "And it's affecting David more th-"

"look who is here." Gray interrupted, making everyone follow his gaze. Standing at the doorway, Saya stared back, a tired expression planted over her features. Nicole's eyes fell on the light colored night gown she wore, making her eyebrow rose a little. Saya had been sleeping? What the heck? What time was it, 9pm? And as far as she knew, the black haired girl haven't done anything out of the ordinary to tire herself with. For a second she had an impulse to ask her out, but before she had the chance to even open her mouth, another tall figure revealed itself from behind her. It immediately made her swallow whatever words were about to come out.

It was Hagi.

Dammit.

Nicole averted her eyes towards the lamp on the coffee table and tried to appear bored and uninterested, but she knew the fucker had already noticed her looking at both of them. Damn…why was everything so complicated? Couldn't he just pretend not to exist and she would do the firkin same?

But, wait; if you come to think about it, wasn't she the one who… didn't ignored him?

FUCK! Nicole felt like slapping herself right there and then. Luckily, she realized that maybe in the darkness of the room she might not aim her face corrently and maybe she would have ended up slapping someone else. That was a thing she knew she would come to regret. That if she wouldn't have slapped Kai. Then she would be happy.

Still, somehow, her logic was right. Except for the time he busted in her room unnoticed by her when she played the guitar, she was the one who ran into him with or without intention. Well, from that moment on, Nicole swore to herself she was going to become a real bitch and ignore the heck out of him! To come and think about it, this decision only made her feel somehow better about herself… Damn, she was a weird person.

"Why is so dark in here?" the sleepy voice of Saya asked no one in particular.

"The lights went out." Mao answered while she made herself more comfortable, hugging a pillow. "Wanna stay with us or you are going to follow David's tribe?" She patted the seat besides her, the seat which divided Nicole spot and her own. When she heard her request, Nicole narrowed her eyes a little as she pushed the musical instrument at her feet a little to a side, just to make sure Saya wasn't going to touch her with her own feet if she sat there. In return, the guitar gently hit the coffee table's feet, making a few of its strings tremble. All eyes everted in her direction.

_Shit._

Silence followed. Damn, she hated silence.

"what? I was making room for Saya." The teen mumbled as she stared blankly at the floor.

"Um…thank you." The black haired girl mumbled as she sat down. Unlike Nicole or Mao, her position was very tense, and it was petty obvious that she did not felt that comfortable. The teen simply shot her another confused look, and accidentally her eyes met her chevalier's for an instant. Before she realized it, she was glaring at the blue eyed man, for apparent no reason, but he did not seemed that affected by this like herself. With a small grunt, she turned her head and gazed lazily at the coffee table, while Hagi made himself way towards a corner of the room.

"Hagi, what are you doing?" came the smooth voice of Gray. The young man immediately brought his eyes to meet the elder's. "No need to run off like that. Take a seat, you are among friends here."

Inwardly, Nicole brought her gaze up as well, only to take spot Saya looking over her shoulder.

"It's ok." She muttered in her low and tired voice, and the next instant, footsteps were heard, as Hagi made himself way at an armchair and sat down quietly.

Nicole couldn't help but widen her eyes. Things went from awkward to totally strange. Did she just witnessed at some kind of…master-slave thingy? She shook the thought out of her head. Well, she was being only over-reacting. Gray mentioned Hagi wasn't a servant around the house, and didn't Saya said something about him being her friend? Yet, wherever she went, he went after her, and now she was sure as hell that he almost asked for permission to sit besides them, even if he done it without words. By this time, Nicole learned that the young chevalier was good at speaking without words…or something like that.

Gray's eyes traveled the room, Mao, Saya, Nicole, Monique and Javier, Kai, himself and Hagi. He smiled from under his mustache.

"Good, I guess everyone is here."

* * *

After the flash of light of a lightning, a thunder was heard. Then they all shared the silence.

And the silence stayed in place for another hour or so. The atmosphere wasn't tensed, nor relaxed. Each one of them simply stared at some blank point avoiding each other's gaze. The rain outside had not changed in intensity, and every now and then the lighting filled the living room and the thunder replaced the silence. Other then that, nothing; as if the room wasn't filled with living creature in first place.

Mao allowed herself to yawn loudly. "This is sooo boring…" she mumbled in a low voice, but it was enough to make herself heard.

From his seat, Kai opened his eyes and grunted; he was in a half-awake half asleep state. "Umm…wha…?" he moaned. Another small yawn escaped Javier's mouth.

"Can't we do anything?" she asked while rubbing her eyes.

"what is there to do? We cant even see each other properly." Mao reproached again. God, that girl was never pleased.

"I'll grad the radio; maybe we can listen some music." The old man stated as he rose from his seat and made himself way towards the drawers. In one of them an old and dusty radio played was placed. Gray grabbed it and dusted it's surface with the back of his palm, but when he tossed it backwards he sighed defeated.

"No batteries…" he mumbled again while he placed it back.

Another moan of annoyance escaped Mao's lips. "That is so not cool."

Another moment of silence filled the room. Gray was still standing by the drawers, and his eyes silently and smoothly scanned its occupants. All of them were bored or tired of of their minds. Monique tried to keep herself awake while she listened to the little girl's chatter about some cartoons, while Kai did not gave a damn about the others in the room and simply threw his head backwards, eyes closed and threatening to fall asleep. Vis-à-vis of them, on the opposite couch, Mao still hugged the pillow and had her chin pinned on the palm of her hand; her features showed nothing more but annoyance and boredom, pretty much like Nicole. Only that the other female seemed a little more relaxed while she sat Turkish style on the couch. Between them Saya exchanged every now and them glances with her chevalier, and Gray wasn't surprised to notice that his features barely showed anything besides seriousness and detachment.

Much to his surprise, Saya spoke up. "How about we listen after all some music?" she asked no on in particular before turning her head towards her chevalier.

"Hagi, do you mind playing the cello for us, please?"

The young man's eyes blinked at her request, but nonetheless he showed no emotion that he was going to object anything. Rising without effort from his chair, he started to make himself way around the couch, upstairs.

"I left the case upstairs." He stated monotone. "I shall go get it."

Gray's eyes narrowed, barely visible. This was his chance to verify something.

"Wait a little Hagi." He asked the man in a slightly louder voice. Inwardly he drew more eyes upon his figure then just his. "I don't want to seem rude, but, Nicole would you like to play for us, please?"

Say…what?

Nicole's heart skipped a beat, as her whole body tensed up and her eyes slightly widened. That was something she truly didn't expected, and she didn't knew how to react at it. The teen wasn't sure if she was able to play with this many people around her but she didn't knew how to turn down the request either. Her brain was too numb to find herself a way out and, as she turned around to face the older man, she knew he was going to insist.

"Besides, you already have your guitar here; what do you say?"

In that mere second, she truly hated this old man! How could someone be so…polite and yet so cruel at the same time! He practically just said something like 'ill make you a deal you cannot refuse' and stuff. Nicole couldn't help but frown as she stared at the musical instrument which still lied at her feet. Should she..? Or shouldn't she?

Maybe somehow she wanted to play it. After all, that was what she was doing when the lights went out in first place. Still, in her view there were too many people around for her to feel comfortable while playing.

"guitar?" a perky voice asked with a slight hint of excitement. Nicole's eyes rose to meet Javier's sleepy ones. "you can play the guitar? Oh, please, please, please, can you play it now?" she asked the teen with half closed eyes, while she planted a tired smile on her features. God, she could have been a younger version of Maria, her crew mate.

Or better said ex crew mate, Nicole corrected herself mentally as her lips frowned even more. Yep, Maria always wore her hair in pigtails, just like that little girl did, not to mention her eyes sparkled with the very same amount of excitement as Javier's, and even in a tired state she would manage to show her excitement and joy no matter now numb her brain or body might have been. Yeps, Maria was a grown up child, and that was why Nicole and the others loved her. For several second, the teen wondered what would Maria do if she met this girl and where she was now and what was she doing?

Still, all in all, one thing was certain. If Maria would have pleaded Nicole to play the guitar just like Javier just did, she would have done it nonetheless.

So…maybe there was a slim reason to play after all, despite the large audience and the numbness in her body.

Sighing deeply, Nicole bent and grabbed the guitar's neck, placing the instrument in her lap. "Maybe just something really short…" she mumbled absently as she positioned her left hand on the neck and the other one ready to pick on the strings. But then her eyes rose upon Hagi's figure.

"you are going to sit or what?"

In the morning, she would slap herself for giving him attention despite the promise she made to herself.

* * *

The room fell silent once more, but it was some other kind of silence. It was some kind of anticipating silence, mostly because all eyes were glued on the fragile figure of Nicole, waiting for her to begin.

But there were two pairs of eyes who stared at her in a different way. Hagi and Gray's.

Behind his solemn mask, Hagi stared at her with worried and expectant eyes. About two days passed since he had 'violated' her intimacy while she tried to make her own version of a song. Her singing then was fragile and insecure; every note seemed to be out of it's place one way or another and the tune, even if it was rather clear seemed to run out of it's line every now and then. The night after that, he listened to her playing the very same tune, though somehow she appeared to be less insecure while her fingers picked on the strings. Still, the melody wasn't flowing the way it had to. Somehow, tonight Hagi felt it was the night when he would listen to her playing flawless, a perfect cover for the tune she tried to transform that she listened in her headphones. Well, it wasn't more like a feeling that he would have listened to her, it was more like a need or maybe even a want. As the rain fell one and one for almost three days straight, he found her music a great medium to relax in, even if she wasn't a pro. Maybe it was all this stubbornness which she impaled between the notes the one which fascinated him and helped him drift out of his thoughts a little. Still, when she played, he kept wondering how would have the tune sounded when Nicole would have finally mastered it. When the lights went out, he couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed, but now he regained the hope that maybe he would witness the result of the two nights she tried to master the song. So, he simply watched her closely, with an interest which fell beyond the boundaries of a music critic.

On the other side, Gray watched Nicole with interest as well, only that the interest he aimed towards her dripped from his suspicious side. There was only one thing he wanted to inspect while she played and his heart skipped a beat as he waited for her finger to finally start.

Nicole was not unaware of the glances she received, but she tried to ignore them. In her mind she tried to pick up a song to play; a short and simple one which wasn't going to exhaust her more then she already was. Still, she couldn't come up with any, so she simply decided to abuse whatever idea first popped in her head.

So, she left her fingers swings across all strings, earning her a descent tonality. Not even a second later, she swung them again, this time hitting only three of the strings, still in a descent manor. Then she stopped swinging her fingers, and a small melody started to form, as each of her thumb, index, middle and ring finger picked the strings at certain different intervals. Her hand moved only from her wrist, as her arm rested on the box of the guitar. Her whole body was leaned forward and her brown messy hair made any glance at her features impossible. The only limb which significally moved was her left arm which pressed on the strings on the guitar's neck, in order to achieve different notes. Other then that, she sat motionless, in a very relaxed manor. That until, her body began to rock every so slowly back and forth on the tune.

A tune which was so much more different then what Hagi expected to hear. The melody was slow and grave and the notes came out much more smoothly. The chevalier was positive that this wasn't the same song he had heard her play in her room the other nights. The instant he realized it, he began to wonder why haven't she played that song? Was she afraid that she wasn't going to succeed if she did? It was true, the song she played now was far more simple, but he was so certain that she was going to play the other one, he almost felt disappointed again that he haven't heard it.

Still, inwardly Hagi closed his eyes and leaned backwards into the seat, just a little as he enjoyed the song. Between the noisy drops of the rain outside, the tune was so calming and distinct, almost like a lullaby, but there was also what seemed to resemble a melancholic touch which was pretty hard to notice unless you were musician yourself. But Hagi noticed it; the kind of tune-line which was characteristic for a piano or maybe even violin. He could have told it was yet another cover she mastered herself, transforming what once was a piano melody into what he heard now. The chevalier even started to think that chords he could have ran his bow over, and mentally he painted the song as a duo of his cello and her guitar; a rather awkward combination, but lovely and touching nonetheless.

Nicole continued to play, showing no attention to whatever happened around her. Behind her messy bangs of hair, her eyes were closed and only her lips were parted just a little, as she inhaled and exhaled rhythmically. In her mind the original song played at the same time as she played it, the notes and lyrics flowing smoothly. The original song belonged to some Irish composer who's name didn't mattered as much as his work. He was a talented pianist with a lovely voice and this song was a pretty old creation of his. Still, it never ceased to touch whoever heard it's heart. Pretty much like Hagi's assumptions it was a melancholic song about someone's feeling about love. Pretty ironic…Nicole never seemed to be the romantic kind of girl, yet the song impaled itself in her mind and betrayed her sentimental self. Still, it was pretty hard to figure that out, mostly because her face was hidden while she played. If her bangs weren't covering her face, her soft half closed eyes and her serene expression would have even visible, an expression of which Nicole had never been aware of. Inside her mind, the lyrics went by.

_Kiss while your lips are still red  
While he's still silent  
Rest while bosom is still untouched, unveiled  
Hold another hand while the hand's still without a tool  
Drown into eyes while they're still blind  
Love while the night still hides the withering dawn_

A lover's feeling it was, about a love which never came true.

Nicole wasn't sure if she had to feel ashamed or proud of the fact that she had never actually experienced love, and still be able to reproduce a song about these feelings so well. Of course, the only one who knew it was a love song was herself, but still...even in this numb mental state she somehow feared that she would end up exposed. Still, she wasn't sure what she was to be exposed of…maybe the fact that she was just a poser and her true self was nothing more but an over-reacting sentimental girl? Maybe the fact that she liked to play these songs because she knew she never had anyone to say 'I love you' to?

Her eyes snapped open, her body jumped a bit backwards and her hand missed a string, making the part of the song she was playing incomplete. This was the main problem she had while she played her guitar; she wasn't able to fully empty her mind, as she had to. Instead she began to think inwardly about the things which she locked deep inside her mind and soul. Really was she now thinking about the fact that she never really had a boyfriend? In fewer words, this was exactly what her thoughts meant, even if it was such a less 'poetical' way to put things. Nicole blinked her eyes and snapped herself to reality. There was no need to worry over such things; she was only 16 years old, too young to think of such feelings. There were so many things which she needed to think of, such as the new dance crew she was to be part of, or what was she going to do once she will be 18 and Gray wont be able to keep her in his house?

Instead, she thought of those pathetic meaningless things. Really, what was she? She was Nicky, for God's sake! A loud mouth, annoying and bad-ass little bitch, right? Right!

Out of the blue, her eyes narrowed, and her hand stopped picking on the strings. Nicole sighed deeply as she leaned backwards and placed the guitar on her lap. One hand rose and wiped clean her forehead. "I'm done." She muttered with a strange seriousness in her voice as she rose and placed the instrument at her feet where it was before. When she opened her eyes, she picked up a few reactions; surprise masked with indifference from Kai, surprise masked with snobbism from Mao, pure excitement from both Monique and Javier and so on. Still, she couldn't have cared for none of them or the few compliments she received seconds later.

Still, she forgot to pick Hagi's confusion and Gray's seriousness.

The chevalier remarked her sudden change of attitude, and he did not understand what just happened to her. It was as if someone just shot a bullet in the back of her head, making her snap out of her meditative state and abort whatever action she was performing. The man decided to be quiet and keep his feelings for his own as he shot just one last look in the girl's direction. Why was he so complicated to read? The way she fell from one extreme to the other was just too confusing for him, and instead of answers it gave birth of even more questions. Closing his eyes, he tried to replay the tune in his head and wondered how its ended sounded.

On the other side of the room, Gray watched Nicole with serious eyes, but the glare implanted in its gaze was enough to make a hole right between her eyes. The old man seemed somehow unpleased because of the fact he had just realized. Nicole was a skilled player and a dedicated singer. She had just been through a trauma by loosing her parents in a car accident. She ended up in an orphanage, on the other side of the globe. Yet, she stated she forgot about her musical instrument, a thing which obviously made the burden on her shoulders lighter each time she played.

Something was wrong; he was able to feel it. There was something about that girl which had been hidden, and Gray was more determined then ever to find out just what that thing was. He closed his eyes and brought a hand to his temples rubbing them lightly; he had faced many mysteries up until then, but this was the most questionable of them all.

The lightning lit the room and then the thunder claimed it's silence. The rain continued to fall, probably even more vicious then before. The clock hanged on one of the walls showed it was only one hour before midnight.

Nicole yawned and crawled into a ball, closing her eyes and sighing deeply. She slowly drifted into her lands of dreams, unaware that she just done more then just play a song on the guitar.

TO BE CONTINUED…

* * *

A/N: I don't really know what to say. A long chapter which I am not that proud of, I mean, it could have come out a lot better, but I had a block. Again. If there are any other questions ask in a review please, because I am tired out of my brains….. Oh, the lyrics used are from a Nightwish song, 'while your lips are still red'.

Oh, and please point out any mistakes or oocness if you see any, ok? Also suggestions are welcomed ^^ good-night!


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